


Rebellion AU Drabbles

by swiftMartyrdom (gatonip)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, F/F, F/M, Gen, Karkat discovers the Signless Cult and becomes its new leader/messiah, M/M, Tavros begins the second lowblood uprising as the Summoner descendant, any Trigger Warnings will be mentioned at the beginning of each drabble, rebellion AU, things get blown up espionage is rampant people die horribly it's this one big mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-01-20 21:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 32
Words: 38,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1527086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gatonip/pseuds/swiftMartyrdom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles within the world of a rebellion au</p><p>(Because there wasn't enough rebellion aus out there already. Clearly.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Turn Back Now

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote these last year during math class and only now am deciding to publish them somewhere. First chapter is a summary of the au and just covers the basics that you need to know before reading these.
> 
> All of the drabbles are stand alone and you don't need to read all of them to understand what's going on; if you've read the summary you'll be fine. If any drabbles DO have any order to them I'll say so in the notes. The notes section also offer additional insight on the drabbles.
> 
> The drabbles I already have written up aren't very explicit beyond where there's actual warfare going on, plus whenever conversation content matter goes past PG-13 but it's nothing serious.
> 
> I dunno if I'm gonna keep writing these, I might just post what I already have and call it a day. We'll see.

**So You’ve Made The Decision To Read Through These Drabbles. You Poor Misguided Soul.**

****I’m gonna apologize upfront about any similarities here to any currently existing rebellion aus. I know the concept isn’t new and there’s bound to be overlap between what you’ve previously read and what you’ll read here. I’ve read a number of rebellion aus myself and sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between what were my original ideas and what were things that I’ve read in the past. Therefore if you find anything that seems familiar, I apologize, and I truly don’t mean to plagiarize off of anyone.  
\---  
The rebellion au (lacking any better title as of now) details the uprising against the Alternian Empire under Her Imperious Condescension. Though there are stragglers forming their own groups, a majority of those participating in the uprising are divided into three organized squadrons.

**1 – The Cult of the Signless Sufferer (aka Second Coming)**

The Signless Cult, which has survived since after the Signless’s execution. The Empire knows of their existence but without any knowledge of their true whereabouts their investigation is at a standstill. They’re still very much searching for them, however.

**LEADER:** Karkat

Conscripted to the threshecutioner corps, he began to experience a series of flashbacks that turn out to be old memories of the Signless (think in terms of the canon, in which the Signless had visions of peaceful Beforus). Deciding to follow these flashbacks, he contacts Sollux and Nepeta and escapes to Alternia with them. Upon finding the Cult he’s welcomed as their messiah’s descendant, and they appoint him leader in the rebellion against the Empire. His flashbacks continue to interfere with his day-to-day life. He initially tries to avoid the Battalion, as he knows the Empire is onto them and doesn’t want to risk losing anyone, but it becomes clear it’s more beneficial to work together and the two eventually work in tandem. The Cult refers to him mostly as Messiah (though he continually tells them otherwise).

**Member:** Sollux

Conscripted to the tech corps, escapes with Karkat to Alternia and helps him organize the rebellion against the Empire. His main job is overseeing aircraft and technical production; his alternate identity as famed musician Bee Amazed helps him gather intel on what’s happening from within the Empire. The Cult accepted him with open arms and they call him Ψiioniic; he doesn’t mind one way or the other.

**Member:** Nepeta

Conscripted to the threshecutioners, escapes with Karkat to Alternia and helps him organize the rebellion against the Empire. She reads through the immense amount of documents the Cult has written/collected over the years and aids in strategy planning for the rebellion. Seen as the second mother to the Cult (behind The Dolorosa/Kanaya), they absolutely adore her. The most common nickname for her is Little Disciple.

**Member:** Kanaya

Conscripted to the brooding caverns to care for the mother grub; the system down in the caverns is more corrupted and abusive than those on the surface assume, and she suffers a sweep of abuse before finally escaping. While on the run she comes across the Battalion, where they take her in and help her recover. They inform her of Karkat’s whereabouts and she continues on until she finds the Cult. She serves as head of weaponry production; her alternate identity as the beloved singer Mairah Virnig helps her gather intel on what’s happening from within the Empire. The Cult worships her as the mother of the rebellion and refers to her as such.

**Member:** Terezi

Conscripted to the bar of legislacerators, she escapes to Alternia after seeing the true nature of the law and the corruption that labels those of her caste and under as collateral. She finds the Battalion, who, like Kanaya before her, take her in for recovery and point her in the direction of the Cult. Her main role is strategizing organized attacks against the Empire. The Cult don’t put her on a high pedestal like the others, as Redglare was simply a member rather a founder, but they still treat her with the utmost respect.

**2 – The Cavalreaper Uprising (aka The Battalion of Rufio)**

A group of cavalreapers that have abandoned the Empire, reminiscent of those who participated in the Summoner’s rebellion. The Empire was under the assumption that those that left are simply KIA rather than part of an uprising, but as of late they’ve become aware of their presence and they’ve become public enemy #3 (behind the Cult as 1 and Op:Ab as 2).

**LEADER:** Tavros

Conscripted to the cavalreapers, he learned of the first uprising and made the decision to revive it. Secretly banding together a group of his fellow cavalreapers with similar aspirations, including Aradia, they escaped to Alternia and he currently leads them in training for the war that looms on the horizon. He respects Karkat’s initial wish to keep the two groups unaffiliated, and they continue to work as two separate organizations even after their alliance. He totally has wings by the way that’s an important thing to know.

**Member:** Aradia

Conscripted to the cavalreapers, she escapes with Tavros along with his followers to Alternia. She serves as a training/weapon production leader, and also tattoos fairy wings (symbol of the Battalion) on those who ask.

**Member:** Vriska

Conscripted to [REDACTED, WILL BE REVEALED AT A LATER TIME], she heard rumors of the cavalreaper rebellion being led by a certain brownblooded mutant and sought them out. Though it wasn’t the warmest welcome, they eventually accept her into the group. She serves as the strategies expert.

**3 – Operation: Abdication (aka Op:Ab)**

A rogue group comprised primarily of highbloods. The Empire is fully aware of their existence but their location is even more difficult to figure out than the Cult’s (at least the Cult is on Alternia).

**LEADER:** Feferi

Facing no conscription due to her royalty status, she’s making a twist on the traditional princess role of taking down her predecessor. She plans not only to destroy the Condesce, but to completely eradicate the caste system as it currently exists as well. She leads a group of highbloods, though she’s not discriminatory against lowbloods (however her plans call for highblood intel that they simply don’t possess, so she usually advises them to join the Cult or Battalion).

**Member:** Eridan

Conscripted to [REDACTED, WILL BE REVEALED AT A LATER TIME], Feferi contacted him and he readily joined her in leading the rebellion against the Empire.

**Member:** Equius

Conscripted to the executioner corps, he learned of Nepeta’s involvement with a lowblooded rebellion and couldn’t bring himself to work for an Empire that would have him execute those of her caste and lower simply due to their blood color, so he fled. His wandering led him to Feferi, whose own rebellion he joined. He’s since matured from his past discriminations based on the caste system.

 

**NOT PART OF ANY OF THE ABOVE REBELLIONS:** Gamzee

Conscripted to the subjuggulators, he hasn’t been in contact with any of the other 11 trolls since conscription. It’s unknown if he’s still with the subjuggulators or where his current location is (both issues will be explained at a later time).

The Cult and the Battalion have been working in tandem since sometime after Vriska joined the Battalion. The Battalion occasionally communicates with Op:Ab, though it’s very rare and is always initiated by the latter; anything the Battalion learns is then retold to the Cult. Karkat doesn’t approve of how Op:Ab operates or Feferi’s post-Condesce plans, as they still lean towards benefiting certain groups of individuals over others. Update: more info on this is in the notes of chapter 10.

\--

**You’re Only Here For The Shipping. It’s Okay, Most Of The Drabbles Right Now Are Shippy Anyways.**

I’ll give you a quick rundown of what’s going on quadrant-wise

**Aradia** – ♥ Sollux (established pre-conscription; the Scourge-Charge debacle occurred, with the difference that Aradia survived Sollux’s attack. They have a long distance thing going on due to their chosen groups being so far away from each other so when the alliance is formed it’s a real treat to get to see each other more often); ♦ Tavros (established pre-conscription; he’s often stressed out for obvious reasons and she can get a bit heated during training sessions so they help each other out)

**Tavros** \- ♦ Aradia; ♥/♠ Vriska (black on and off pre-conscription, vacillates to mostly red post-conscription; their relationship is as complicated as canon and probably isn’t as healthy as it should be, but neither makes any move to break it off)

**Sollux** \- ♥ Aradia; ♦ Terezi (established pre-conscription; support each other during bouts of low self-confidence; they each have an earring with a stud of the other’s symbol. Their relationship borders on red from time to time, which Aradia and Karkat voice no qualms about); ♦ Karkat (semi-established post-conscription because they both needed to be pacified and Kanaya and Terezi hadn’t joined the Cult yet, abandoned mutually just shortly before Kanaya’s arrival); ♦ Kanaya (semi-established pre-conscription; abandoned mutually just before they started their relationships with Terezi and Vriska, respectively)

**Karkat** \- ♥ Terezi (semi-established pre-conscription; their arguing and his self-doubt has subsided considerably since conscription and their relationship has smoothed out accordingly. They have tattoos on their arms of the other’s symbol, Terezi’s doubling as an alternative to the traditional Signless shackles necklace); ♦ Kanaya (established pre-conscription; functions similar to Terezi and Sollux’s relationship, red tendencies and all. They have tattoos on their collars of the other’s symbol); ♦ Sollux

**Nepeta** \- ♦ Equius (established pre-conscription; distance and lack of communication is putting a great strain on their relationship and without the pacification they’re so used to they’re both extremely stressed out. They care for each other deeply and want nothing but to be reunited in the new world order); ♠ Gamzee (established pre-conscription, abandoned by Nepeta because she realized he would have willingly killed her rather than kept up a healthy relationship)

**Kanaya** \- ♦ Karkat; ♦ Vriska (established pre-conscription; abandoned mutually because Vriska didn’t think she needed a moirail, and Kanaya didn’t think Vriska was holding up her end of the relationship, plus they had conflicting red feelings for each other that they were too young to handle maturely); ♦ Sollux

**Terezi** \- ♥ Karkat; ♦ Sollux; ♠ Gamzee (established post-conscription, abandoned by Terezi for the same reason as Nepeta)

**Vriska** \- ♥/♠ Tavros

**Equius** \- ♦ Nepeta

**Eridan** \- ♦ Feferi (established pre-conscription, later abandoned by Feferi for the same reason in canon)

**Feferi** \- ♥ Sollux (established pre-conscription, later abandoned mutually because it wasn’t working out); ♦ Eridan

 

There's also some weird tension going on between Karkat and Nepeta as well as Sollux and Kanaya but we'll get into that another time, wink. Update: more info in chapter 27. 

  
\---

  
This is the basic premise of what you’ll need to know for the drabbles. More information will be revealed within each individual story. Have fun.


	2. Karkat and Kanaya's Reunion (Kanaya's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retells their reunion when Kanaya arrives at the Cult hideout. No triggers

It’s not until a full week has passed from leaving the Battalion that you find the Cult. Your feet are sore and your wounds are blistering, and the ache of anticipation in your chest drums along to the beat of your footsteps. Thank the messiahs you never cared for that Tavros took you in and fixed you up before you set out again; the man has a heart of gold and illicit wings of bronze. He will do well.

When you arrive, the air around you changes. Long expanses of heat and silence give way to relieving coolness and a low hum of communication that does not cease. You are greeted by a mangy brownblood with your darling’s symbol on a chain around his neck, and his demeanor evolves from curiosity to excitement as you show him the matching symbol inked into your skin. He leads you down into a bunker and you make a mental note to ask for a necklace later. Exposing skin is tedious for everyday interaction.

The Cult hideout is an intricate web of passageways and corridors that weave their way underground out of sight. Off to the side you see what appears to be a commons area, full of countless straggly young trolls conversing, eating, and reading. Lights adorn nearly every corner to illuminate the space, though the path the brownblood leads you through is dark and the atmosphere is dismal. Everything reeks of bodies and dirt and what you can only describe as hope. You meet no one on your journey to the end of the hall where there is but a single door. The sign on your collar has been hurriedly scratched into it and you determine it to have been etched in via knife as your escort knocks twice.

From behind the door an oliveblood peeks her head out. Her hair is wild and curled, plaited into a long braid to hide just how mistreated it is. The freckles littered on her face scrunch together as she looks questioningly at you both.

"Is this about the catnip stash? Beclaws I swear to Signless you have no proof that I still toke on that."

Nepeta Leijon has matured immensely yet remains the same lovable little girl somehow.

Her expression slowly shifts as she looks you up and down, her eyes scanning for something familiar. The moment she recognizes you the most genuine smile you’ve ever seen breaks out on her face.

"Kanaya, is that really you?!"

"In the flesh." You return her smile as her eyes light up.

"How are you? It’s been sweeps since I’ve heard from you; I thought they were holding you prisoner down in the caverns or something!"

You grimace a bit and reply, “That’s not entirely far from the truth, but that’s a story for another time.” Out of the corner of your eye you notice the brownblood slightly bow to Nepeta before dismissing himself.

"Oh right of course, we’ll have plenty of time to discuss things later." She brings her voice down to a whisper. "Don’t tell anyone but I really do still toke on special occasions, I’ll share with you if you keep quiet." With a wink and a movement so quick you nearly miss it, she grabs your hand and pulls you through the threshold. "But later. Right now I’m sure you want to see Karkat!"

You enter what clearly is the base of operations for the Cult. Long mirrors and stain glass cover the walls and documents strewn across the tiled floor create an obstacle course for walking. A feminine touch is apparent in the room, though you question its origin (Nepeta has never shared your passion for the aesthetically pleasing). Little splatters of grubsauce (oh please be grubsauce) are on walls void of mirror. If it weren’t for the mess, you would think it to be a blueblood’s study, rather than a rebellion hideout hidden underground.

"Karkat!" Nepeta calls out as you round a corner (scratch that study bit, the size resembles more like a miniature auditorium). "Hey, guess what the cat dragged in!"

Your heart lurches when you hear, “If it’s a dead sparrow again I’ll throw whatever’s in my hands at you. Which I should warn you is ‘The Complete Guide To Not Bringing Shit In Here To Stink Up The Place, Volume 5.”

Stumbling over your own tongue you manage to quip, “I may not have bathed in a while but I certainly do not stink.”

The atmosphere goes from dismal to tense in an instant. You sense movement from a closet up ahead as he walks out with a few books in his hands. Then you catch his eye and he freezes.

The last time the two of you spoke was conscription day over a sweep ago. Though you had planned to keep in touch, the unexpected living conditions in the caverns prevented you from contacting him at any point. Even after escaping to the Battalion, you were advised to avoid trying for fear of the lines being tapped. You’re not stupid; moirails reuniting after such a long span of time is going to be emotional, and you knew you had to be ready.

You have spent precisely one season, two weeks, and 18 hours mentally preparing yourself for this reunion with the intention of staying calm and rational. It takes one second of eye contact for your poor heart to stop beating, your eyes to well up with tears, you delicate hands to shake.

Stay strong, you need to be strong for him, you’re his foundation you cannot crumble, don’t cry, don’t be weak, don’t don’t don’t

He quietly moans your name and the choked sob that escapes your lips betrays you.

You don’t know who made a move towards whom first or how the books were flung across the room rather than just dropped at his feet. All you know is that in the blink of an eye you’re on the ground clinging to him and so is he and nothing exists but the two of you. You’re crying and shaking and he’s crying and shaking and nothing makes sense yet you’ve never understood more than you do now. You feel like you’re high as you gently rock the frail little body that is your Karkat Vantas.

Frail and little might not be the best way to describe him now. Though his psyche likely still has the feebleness of a thin sheet of ice, his body certainly doesn’t. You can feel muscles he didn’t have before through his thin shirt and the jagged edges of his shoulders have rounded out. He’s still bony in some places but it’s likely from malnutrition rather than any physical weakness on his part. Typical for threshecutioners; his time with the corps did him good physically. You’re positive he’s grown a few inches because you can’t tuck his head under your chin as comfortably as you used to. But he smells the same and the feel of his skin is the same and the sound of him mumbling sweet nothings into your shoulder is the same.

You shift to look down at him and rest your forehead against his, wiping away a tear from his cheek with your thumb; the palest cliché known to man is complete. With a trembling hand he tugs your shirt collar down to touch the inked-in sign of the suffering, and you ghost your hand over your own sign marked into the space above his collarbone.

He shudders and you feel alive.


	3. Joining the Cult (Kanaya's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation immediately following Kanaya's arrival. There's hints of blood but other than that no triggers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter happens right after the previous one, but you don't need to read that one to understand what's going on here.
> 
> The Disciple's speech pattern is inspired heavily by The Serendipity Gospels (which is an amazing rebellion fic do yourself a favor and go read it)

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Karkat-”

“No, Kanaya!”

“I’m nine sweeps old I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

“Well this is one decision I’m not letting you make.”

You cross your arms over your chest and huff. When you both managed to pull yourselves together and walk through routine basic pleasantries, the question of your intentions on finding the Cult came up. For the past fifteen minutes you’ve been arguing back and forth over your desired involvement, a new record as far as your verbal spouts go.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Taking care of yourself includes not throwing yourself into the goddamn line of fire.”

You’re at a standstill and neither of your will budge.

“If a rebellion is going on, I want to be a part of it. I despise the hemospectrum just as much as anyone else.”

“Your involvement isn’t necessary. I have this all under control.”

“I know it isn’t necessary. There’s not a doubt in my mind you can do this. But I’m still going to help out all that I can.”

“Seriously Kan you’re not getting involved.”

“Look, I handled myself perfectly well in the Battalion. I’m a quick learner and I don’t need anyone to-”

“Did you just say Battalion.” He says it so deadpan it sounds more like a statement than a question.

“Yes.”

“Battalion of Rufio.”

“Yes.”

He sputters a bit like he’s unsure of what to say or how to react. “You…Nitram…so you?...”

You uncross your arms and lift your shirt up over your head. Modesty hasn’t been an issue between you two for sweeps, and you’re not ashamed of letting Nepeta see you. Her eyes widen as you turn around and present your back to them. Adorning your cold skin are two golden tattoos mirroring one another: long swooping lines interlocking into an elegant pattern of delicate fairy wings. You’ve had them for long enough that they’re no longer flawed with the jade tint of irritated skin.

“It’s a lot prettier than the earlier design,” you hear Nepeta comment behind you, followed by the crash of books against a wall. In his rage Karkat has still managed to hold enough self-control to not shatter the stained glass.

“SON OF A BITCH I’LL SLAUGHTER THAT NOOK BEATER AND USE HIS HEAD ON A PIKE IN PLACE OF A WELCOME MAT.”

“Karkat.”

“I WOULD RATHER DEAL WITH THE WIMPY BACKBONELESS PIECE OF SHIT FROM WIGGLERHOOD THAN THE BRAINLESS JACKASS THAT IS NOW TAVROS NITRAM.”

“Karkat!”

“IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK OF A PERSON TO KEEP ANOTHER PERSON’S MOIRAIL OUT OF DANGER INSTEAD OF THROWING CAUTION TO THE FUCKING WIND AND DECIDING, HEY, HERE’S SOMEONE PRECIOUS TO SOMEBODY ELSE, LET’S PUT HER ON THE FRONT LINES SO SHE CAN-”

“VANTAS DON’T MAKE ME FUCKING YELL.”

His mouth clamps shut immediately. The screaming in your relationship is usually reserved for him alone, and the fact that you’ve raised your voice at all, let alone that he’s actually being quiet, surprises both of you. You gather yourself before continuing.

“I’m going to say this once, and only once. Tavros Nitram did not convince me to join his army. I convinced him to let me join.”

Karkat slowly shakes his head in disbelief. Then an unsettling grin breaks out on his face and the hair on your neck stands on end. “You are. Without a doubt. The stupidest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.” He runs a hand through his shaggy hair. “I mean fucking damn Maryam I just don’t know what to do with you sometimes.” His grin disappears and his expression changes. It’s not so much anger as it is something far worse.

Pain.

“Everything just got that much more complicated.”

“I don’t understa-”

“You’re connected to the Battalion now. You have the wings for fuck’s sake there’s no denying it, if you get captured it’s the end of the line for you. You’ve essentially just undermined my biggest attempt to protect you. You’re still not joining the Cult, but now I have to keep you hidden more than I had planned.” His voice is as pained as his expression when he says, “Those wings are your death wish.”

You keep your voice as steady as possible. “The mark on my collar was a death wish long before any of this happened.” He’s silent. He knows you’re right.

“If I had known,” he says quietly,” that my sign meant what it means, I would have never inked it into you.”

“I don’t regret it.”

“You should. Signless knows it was the most irresponsible thing we could have done.”

Despite the nature of your conversation, you let a smile slip. “Sometimes you’re more like Mother than even I am.”

His breath hitches and you don’t know why.

“Regardless,” you say, “I’m joining you and I need you to respect my decision.”

“No. I can’t. I can’t knowingly let you be in potential danger.”

“I told you what was going on down in the caverns. If you think that was safer for me-”

“Like hell it was. Even if it was half as bad as you say it was I wouldn’t cast you out. I love you and I want you to stay here. But I don’t want you getting more involved than you need to.”

“What’s one more rebellion membership? I’m wanted as it is.”

Karkat looks helplessly at Nepeta, who’s stayed quiet for most of the quarrel. She sighs. “First, Kanaya put your shirt on, you’re shivering, silly.” You sheepishly tug the garment back on; you’d barely noticed the chill during your argument. “And second, Karkat, not letting her get involved is the biggest slap to her ancestry you could give.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Signless, as his name implies, was not given a symbol,” she says, “but all of the documents we’ve found refurr to him as Maryam.”

You feel a bit bewildered, likely as much as Karkat looks. Aside from Vriska’s rantings on Mindfang, you don’t actually know much about ancestry. Your own especially eluded you, as jadebloods are so uncommon and those in the brooding caverns weren’t exactly the helpful, talkative folk.

“I don’t understand,” Karkat is saying. “Signless didn’t have a recorded hatching name at all as far as I know. Why would they list him as Maryam?”

“Admittedly I don’t know much about my family but I think I would have known if mine was connected to Karkat’s.”

Nepeta looks around the room and goes searching through a few stacks of papers, from which she produces one that looks positively ratty and dreadful. She holds it like it’s the key to the universe. “This is a section from the Disciple’s writings, particularly focused on a woman known as the Dolorosa.” She looks pointedly at Karkat. “His mother.”

You don’t understand but this fact registers with Karkat immediately and he rushes to grab the stack from her, but she dodges him. “No, I don’t want you reading it yourself.”

“Why the fuck n-”

“Visions.”

Again you’re in the dark and he understands completely. His expression is solemn when he asks, “Will you read some of it to me then?”

Nepeta seems hesitant but she nods. Choosing a page at random, she starts:

 

 

_he told me early on that he’d been saved from certain death by a jadeblood. she renounced her role as caretaker and fled the caverns to raise him through wigglerhood, and ultimately started the caravan of his preaching. she always traveled with us. never have I met someone who cared so dearly for others, let alone my beloved. she cherished him as a moirail cherishes their palemate, as a subjuggulator cherishes his messiahs, as a huntress cherishes her world around her, and he cherished her just the same. sometimes he would have bouts of visions from which I could not rouse him, and her gentle touch would bring him back to us. I came to love her as my mentor. she asked me about my writings and I asked her about her ink. one day she showed me the ones on her chest and I vowed to get a ♍ in her honor, one as beautiful as she was._

_I tried to burn it into my arm with wick just as those putrid ‘followers’ do with your shackles, love. it hurts like shit and it’s hard to see through my tears but I write through pain and tears all the time so what else is new._

 

She looks at you and offers an explanation. “The Disciple was his mate and wrote down his teachings. She’s mentioned her symbol enough for us to trace her back to me. And yours,” she extends the page towards you, “is in here whenever she speaks of the Dolorosa, the woman who raised him.”

You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it, but here it is, your sign plain as day staring back at you, the one you’ve been discriminated against for, the one that’s brought you misery in the caverns that until now you couldn’t understand the motive for, the one etched into your darling’s skin. You look at him to gauge his reaction.

“Why…why didn’t you tell me this?!” he shouts, a tinge of agony in his voice.

“I didn’t think you were ready, you said it yourself you didn't want unnecessary information that could potentially trigger you!” Nepeta’s grip on the papers tighten.

He shakes his head. “My moirail being my mother is pretty necessary information!”

“Y-your mother?” Her grip gets tighter.

“Yes my mother, we’ve discussed my relationship with her before, Meulin.”

“Fuck…” you hear Nepeta whisper. “Honey, listen to me, your name is Karkat, okay? Karkat. You’re at the Cult hideout right now.”

“Meulin, what are you going on about?” He cocks an eyebrow and grins. “Is this one of your roleplay things?”

“Karkat I’m being serious my name is not Meulin!”

“Okay then, what do you want me to call you?” There’s still a playful edge to his voice.

“MY NAME IS NEPETA AND YOU’RE NOT 13, KARKAT!” She looks like she’s about to cry in frustration and you’re absolutely baffled.

You look back at Karkat and see that something isn’t right with him. His eyes still have the gray of adolescence in them, but they’re glazed over in a deluted shade of red. He’s not slouching at all and there’s just something altogether off with him that you can’t identify. And the fact that you don’t understand is making you anxious.

“Karkat…?” you say tentatively. He looks at you and his face distorts in contemplation.

“…Mother? Mother, when did you get…where’s your markings, I don’t…that thing on you…” He looks absolutely befuddled when he points to his insignia on you, just peeking out of your shirt.

“Karkat? Karkat, this is your sign. Don’t you remember?” You still don’t know what’s wrong but you can take a stab at trying to right it. “It was our anniversary. We were seven and you wanted to prove to me that you were devoted, so we marked one another. You have my sign on you too, look.”

Cautiously he looks down at himself and, upon seeing the ♍ on his collar, flinches like your sign is going to burn him alive and swallow him whole. He meets your eye again. “K…Kanaya…?” He groans and grabs his head, swaying in place. Nepeta rushes to his side to support his weight before he can topple over.

“Karkat what’s my name?” she demands, turning his head with a hand to face her.

“…Nepeta.”

She sighs with relief and pats down his hair, helping him sink down into a sitting position on the floor. She turns to you.

“Okay, I know this looks bad-”

“Bad? _Bad_?! Bad was when he was conscripted into godforsaken nowhere without any way for us to contact each other. Bad was when he had a panic attack at eight and his blood drenched my hive and stained my hands. He just forgot not only my existence but his own AND ALL YOU CAN CALL THAT IS _BAD_?!?” You’re so angry you could destroy everything within a five mile radius until the land was nothing but ash and feel nothing, and that’s the first sign of the panic attack you’re going to have any second now.

“He didn’t actually forget your existence-”

“THEN WHAT THE BLOODY _FUCK_ WAS THAT?!?”

“Kanaya.” Your head snaps to look at him. “I’ll explain what’s going on but you need to calm down.”

“BUT YOU-”

Karkat stares you down. The glassiness in his eyes has disappeared and you focus on that to get your breathing back to normal (when did you start hyperventilating?) and your mind under control. He waits until you confirm with a nod that you’re alright and pats the space next to him, prompting you to sit.

He swallows thickly. “I’ve been having…visions lately. Flashbacks. Hallucinations. Pick whichever one you want it doesn’t change anything.” He goes to run a hand through his hair and you stop him, replacing his with your own. Methodical action will keep you calm. You need calm right now. “When they happen, I just. Lose track of reality. Nothing is in terms of my life anymore, it’s all in terms of his.”

“His?” you question.

“Signless. It’s like I’m seeing everything through his eyes, like he’s living through me somehow. I don’t recognize anyone. My mind supplements people who were significant in his life in place of people significant in mine.”

“Who’s Meulin then?”

“The Disciple’s hatchname was Meulin,” Nepeta explains. “She didn’t say so in her writings but he’s said enough when he’s out of it for us to piece things together.”

You take in a breath and it’s still shaky. “How long?” you ask him.

“Since I started in the corps.” It’s a blessing that they didn’t plague him earlier but it still makes you uneasy.

“How long do these last, roughly?”

“A minute or two. Longest one lasted ten.” He rubs at his eyes. “Sometimes it’s hard to shake me out of it. Other times it’s easier.”

“And what triggers them?”

“That’s the worst of it.” He sighs. “It’s completely random. We’ve noticed that a few words or faces will tip them off but other than that we can’t track or predict them.”

You pull Karkat closer to you and he leans his head on your shoulder. He pulls at the hem of your shirt subconsciously. “Does this mean that some of us just have to be in the same room to set one off?”

Nepeta glances at him but he avoids her eye, staring at his work on your hem. “Yeah,” she says. “For the most part he’s managed to prevent them when I’m around but…sometimes he slips.”

He reaches out a hand to gently squeeze hers but he still doesn’t look at her. Her mouth twitches into a half smile and you can tell that something’s happened, something has changed between them but she won’t acknowledge it. You wonder if it’s simply matespritship or something sinister or just weariness from this heresy they’ve brought on.

“Kan.” Karkat’s strained voice snaps your attention back. “It goes against pale moral code to do this but we’ve never been much for traditional diamond guidelines anyways.” You keep down the heat threatening to rise to your face at that. “The last thing I ever want to do is bring down anyone else with me, you especially. I’m going to feel guilty about this for a long while, and if I hole myself up for a bit after this I hope you’ll understand.” He sighs again. “But I’m not going to stop you from joining us.”

You don’t try to hold back a smile. “It took a slip of your mental state to let me stick around?” you quip.

He glances up at you and smirks. “It took a slip of my mental state to agree to this moirallegience.”

You act like you’re deeply offended by the jab and Nepeta giggles at your theatrics. “Mr. Vantas, for shame! I thought what we had was precious but clearly I was mistaken.”

“Your face is precious and mistaken.” You shove him off your shoulder and he laughs, a sound you haven’t heard in ages that makes your heart flutter something fierce. The atmosphere in the room is so much lighter now that you can’t help but join in his infectious laugher.

In such a short amount of time you’ve gone from an Empire subordinate to a member of not one but two groups with intentions to bring the government to its knees. You worry for the future, but right now the boy you’ve twice over sworn to lay down your life for is laughing with his head in your lap, and you’re content with just focusing on that for the moment.


	4. The Alliance (Terezi's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Cult and the Battalion formally solidify their alliance. No triggers

Tonight is, by your understanding, the most important historical event in the modern Cult’s history to date following their Messiah’s return. Followers evolved into soldiers millennia back. Soldiers held His preaching close to their hearts. But never have the Signless and the Summoner’s legacies intertwined in one true union. Until now.

The idea was ultimately proposed by Nepeta, though the concept was not foreign completely; rumors of a union had been circulating well before even Kanaya arrived, you’ve been told. Maryam just set a precedent for stronger rumors, and Leijon fanned the flames until any doubt was completely snuffed out.

You have been here approximately eight weeks and never have you seen everyone bustle about as much as they do now. Folding chairs by the hundreds. A marvelous stage of oak and streamers, front and center. Increase in security. It’s chaos but no complete anarchy (you saw to it that organization wasn’t taking a back seat in this fiasco) with people rushing around with boxes and tech equipment and food rations yet somehow not mowing each other over. Like ants in an anthill they’re methodical and efficient, and their leader lies in the heart of it, revered and – more importantly – protected.

And now it’s all come together perfectly. The empty fields are now home to thousands of people, followers and soldiers alike, and the air is alive with the intensity of pent-up thoughts and ideals that until recently were silenced and repressed. Kanaya’s voice is sweet, a melody rarely played that leaves everyone in breath-stealing awe. She could dismantle entire civilizations in a single breath and there would be no opposition. Inspirational speeches, she claims, are not her forte, so the world is seldom graced by hers. But when it is, there’s not a sound that dares to interrupt the symphony lead by their Holy Mother Incarnate.

As her speech ends, the breath that everyone didn’t realize they were holding lets out. Your own lungs release its trapped air and, as usual, Kanaya’s preaching has left you feeling lighter. With a graceful turn she faces her back to her congregation. She exposes her Battalion wings tattoo and holds up her hands in the sign of the Shackles as the crowd erupts into deafening applause, chanting and hollering, screams of “bless us, Mother!” It’s her first time showing her connection to the Battalion and it’s gone over well. Some people look smug like they had guessed as much, but ultimately everyone is overjoyed to have her support for both sides of the rebellion.

“Yo, TZ.” Your thoughts are cut short by the gangly form of Sollux Captor approaching. All skin and bones and brains and not much else.

“Hey how’s it going?”

“It’th going thhithive thankth to the ‘Mother’ up there.” He’s also comprised of sass, definitely can’t forget that.

“Don’t pretend you don’t feel as enraptured as everybody else, Mr. Captor.”

“If there’th anyone here not enraptured, then we have a bit of a loyalty problem.” He chuckles. “In any cathe, they better thettle down thoon. KK doesthn’t like talking over hundredth of people, let alone thouthandth.”

“Is he ready?”

“No, but ith he ever?” 

You grin widely. If anything has held up in the two sweeps since your childhood, it’s Karkat’s inner battle between thinking he’s hot shit and thinking he’s shit, period. “I’m sure our little preacher boy will do fine. It’s not like it’s his first time.”

“Yeah, true, hith firtht time wath ageth ago with KN.” You sock him in the arm and he just wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Riveting conversation as usual.”

“Of courthe. I’m gonna go get him tho he and TV can get thith thhow on the road.”

“Alright. Try not to bring up his sex life.”

“No promitheth.” He leans down to rest his lips on yours briefly before running off again.

The crowd has simmered down to its usual level of chatter. Kanaya ghosts down from the platform and spots you, flashing you a smile as she takes her spot in the front row. For all your planning there ended up being a shortage of chairs but the congregation was more than willing to stand if it meant she or their fellow neighbor could be more comfortable. How strange that it took a rebellion against the government to get this kind of reaction out of people, this sense of belonging, when all you wanted was to separate from something bigger than yourselves. Somehow along the way you created something even bigger.

Crowd chatter evolves into a roar once more as Tavros takes the stage. The sweeps have been good to him; cavalreaper training left him toned and strong (and the sweep spent in a wheelchair definitely didn’t hurt the arm muscle growth) and he’s gained a good five inches. From earlier meetings you’ve deduced that he’s been sporting a nose ring and half an arm sleeve lately. And of course, through the slits in his shirt his wings sprout large and proud. One big middle finger to the Empire without even trying. Though in classic Tavros demeanor, he’s more pleased with getting to be like the fairies he was always ridiculed for believing in. Screw you, a fairy’s leading a rebellion.

Up front with him stand his right-hand women. Vriska is never content with second best, and according to some soldiers you’ve spoken to she’s practically co-leader the way she takes charge, but she’ll play the part when it suits her. On the other hand Aradia is perfectly fine taking a back seat to her old Team Charge partner. It was no secret that she was the planner for the duo back in the day, and she’s happy with letting him take the reins this time around.

It was a bit of an emotional mess when the four of you reunited a few hours ago, but you’re professional anarchists and you pulled yourselves together to get your work done.

Don’t even get you started on your reunion with Karkat. It’s still fresh in your mind while you watch him take his place next to Tavros. Tears and laughter and tears and kisses and did you mention tears? What a mess. You’d rather not think about that now and you welcome the interruption of your reminiscing when Nitram tests the microphone and the feedback hushes the crowd.

Karkat hangs back while Tavros does his thing, standing at attention with arms at sharp angles behind his back, posture straight, legs stuff. Corps stance is hard to break out of once ingrained into the mind; it’s his default and no one made much effort to correct him.

Tavros is just slightly looser than him, but that’s likely because of the weight of his wings. They shimmer a bit in the light of the spotlights situated around the field, airy and fluttering and delicate. His speech, however, is anything but. Since wigglerhood his voice has lowered an octave to a level that’s a lot more pleasant, and his stuttering is considerably better (Aradia says it comes back when he’s babbling, but he’s working on it). He no longer oozes inferiority. Though his confidence is still no rival to the likes of Vriska, it’s still so heartwarming to see him preach his heart out with a demeanor that says, hey world, my name is Tavros Nitram and I’m not your doormat anymore. I’m leading my army with an iron fist. Get ready.

But old habits die hard. It’s no surprise when he interrupts himself with, “Before I finish up here, my strategies specialist would like to say a few words,” and he steps aside to let Vriska have access to the mic. She’s graceful about it though; sweeps ago he would have just been pushed aside, but she shows him the respect he deserves now. Took her long enough.

“I’m gonna make this quick. Name’s Vriska Serket, half of you know that already. The other half, hey what’s up?” She winks with her better eye and she gets a few laughs in response. “This union is a big step for us. Our numbers have just doubled in size in a second and so have our chances of making an actual change here. We’re this big family thing now and I expect you all to act like it. Soldiers, that means not only do you take a beheading for your fellow soldier, you also revive yourself and take a second beheading for your cultist brother or sister. Don’t fuck this up.” Cheers and applause as she makes a salute and exits the mic.

Tavros takes his place back to wrap up his half of the speeches. The crowd is still just as attentive as earlier, and you have to hand it to them for having such long attention spans. “So just to recap. This union is about coming together for a common cause. We’re going to fight, we’re going to persevere, and we’re going to turn this whole system inside out. And I’ll be damned if I don’t try my hardest to get us to that goal.”

He looks back at Karkat, who nods once and comes up so they’re side by side. Tavros turns back to the audience and grins.

“Karkat and I thought it best if we gave you all a little assurance that this is indeed a thing now” As he unbuttons his vest Karkat turns around and lifts his cloak up.

Everyone in the area gasps at the sight. Bright red ink marks up Tavros’s chest in the sign of the Sufferer, and Karkat’s back bares the same wings Kanaya showed off earlier. You stifle a laugh at the irony of it all. Tavros, the shy little thing so pitiful, with tattoos all over and audacity to get one that screams “kill me”. Karkat, the insecure child with a fierce temper, calm and making his death wish. He was completely against the union for the longest time, scared shitless when he found you sporting the same tattoo on your own back, throwing a fit when he saw the necklaces on Aradia and Vriska. Yet here he is now, with a pair of his own and red in his veins and this union means no going back.

Silence gives way to clapping gives way to deafening cheers and shouts and tears of joy in the span of three seconds. It’s absolutely astounding the kind of reaction these two can get.

They readjust their clothes and Tavros steps back as Karkat takes his place. You know he’s nervous out of his mind – he’s told you so the past few nights – but he doesn’t show it in the slightest.

“I could stand here for hours and talk your ears off,” he begins, “and I know the Signless was notorious for doing that. But what could I really say that you haven’t heard five times over? We’re in this together. As Tavros mentioned earlier we’re not disbanding the two groups to make one mega rebellion or whatever the hell. The Battalion and the Cult will remain as they are. But we’re here to support each other and to lay down our lives for each other if and when we need to. And we’ll do so willingly.” He looks out over the congregation as he speaks, which doesn’t dare breathe a single breath. It’s out of not fear, but respect, overwhelming respect for the man who’s continued the fight for equality millennia in the making.

You catch him smirking as he continues. “As you know the Cult is ultimately led by me, as Tavros leads the Battalion. But also like the Battalion, I have a few guys to help keep you little shits safe and organized.” As a few people laugh you notice something mischievous in his tone that sparks your curiosity. “You’ve all met Kanaya and Nepeta-” brief cheers erupt from the crowd which he settles with a hand “-and of course Sollux.” Cheers again; the three of them briefly wave at the sound of their names. “And then most recently, we have another addition.”

Your breath hitches.

No, he’s not actually going to..? 

Karkat looks straight at you and his smirk grows wider. “I think she should come up and say hi.” He extends a hand in your direction.

That son of a bitch.

You specifically told Sollux, who was supposed to inform Karkat, that for all the love and loyalty you hold for the groups you have no intention of publicly speaking to the masses. A small number of followers, sure, but this? You’re not for preaching. The last thing you publicly spoke at was a mock trial so revolting you spewed grubloaf afterwards. Your mouth feels tainted with the lies of a monarchy you spent your life learning to obey and defend and you don’t deserve the right to speak to a mass of anarchists. You were manipulated and groomed from your hatching day to fight their cause, and you don’t care how far you’ve turned from the Empire, you won’t speak.

But Sollux is pushing you up the stage and you silently vow to make both of them pay for this later.

Front and center you face the eager faces of the assembly. “I’d like to introduce you all,” Karkat is saying, “to Miss Terezi Pyrope.”

You smile as the crowd cheers politely and hiss through your teeth, “Vantas I’ll end you.”

“Better to get it out of the way, don’t you think?” he whispers back. “Plus you owe me.”

“For what?”

He shrugs. “You’ll probably do something to piss me off later. Consider it early payback.” You want to wipe that grin off his face so badly.

Instead you just sigh in defeat and grab the microphone. Alright Pyrope. Let’s see how inspirational you can be with no planning whatsoever.

The applause and hollering that erupts when you finish is assurance enough that you don’t completely bomb the speech. You don’t think you said anything more noteworthy than the others did before you, but you appreciate the crowd’s kindness. You show them the wings on your back and the Shackles on your arm, and they seem more than pleased with this. Before you head off the stage Karkat catches your hand and pulls you over for a quick kiss. There’s a few wolf whistles from the crowd and you laugh. “I know you’ll give me hell later,” he says in your ear, “but getting to hear that speech was worth it. Good job.”

“Oh you’re getting a visit from the Handmaid for sure. But thanks.”

He smiles, a genuine one, and he gives you another apology kiss before letting you go. He owes you a million and you intend to receive payment, but you’re glad to have inspired people that you wish so much to right the wrongs others like you have brought upon them.

No, not others like you. You’re nothing that the Empire stands for. You were hatched a rebel; it just took time to realize what you were going to rebel against.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both reunions (between Team Charge/Team Scourge and Karkat and Terezi) will probably be written up too; I'll throw those up here whenever I write them


	5. Relationship - Karkat ♦ Kanaya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Kanaya discuss how their moirallegience began. No triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This offers a little more insight on how Karkat and Kanaya's relationship dynamic works. Although they're primarily moirails they've got this weird borderline red thing going on. 
> 
> Terezi doesn't have any problem with it because whoops she's doing the same thing with Sollux. And Sollux and Kanaya meanwhile have their own weird thing going on, and so does Karkat and Sollux and really it's just this one big mess of feelings but somehow it works out.

HEY KANAYA. DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN WE FIRST DECIDED TO BE MOIRAILS?

How Could I Forget One Of The Happiest Days Of My Life

THAT WAS INCREDIBLY SAPPY.

Like You Arent Constantly

OH SHUSH.

It Was Nice Out That Day And You Were Over For A Visit. It Was A Three Day Journey From Your Hive To Mine So It Was A Nice Surprise When You Showed Up

AND YOUR IMMEDIATE REACTION WAS TO DRAG ME INSIDE AND TURN ME INTO A LIVING GODDAMN MANNIQUIN.

You Have Wonderful Proportions I Wasnt Going To Just Let The Opportunity Pass By Me

PSSH. FASHION DESIGNERS.

I Eventually Let You Go Though. And Then We Sat Around Drinking Tea And Gossiping

WHAT WERE WE EVEN DISCUSSING THAT WHOLE TIME?

I Think We Brought Up A DiCaprio Movie At Some Point

OH YEAH. DUDE THAT GUY IS NEVER GONNA GET THE RECOGNITION HE DESERVES.

It Will Remain Limited To The Discussions Between Wigglers Over Hot Beverages

HAHA POOR THING.

Sometime After The Dicaprio Mourning I Think We Started A Poking War

WHICH I WON.

You Definitely Didnt

I GOT THE UPPER HAND THAT MEANS I WON.

Tripping And Falling On Top Of Me Isnt An Upper Hand

SAYS YOU. …YOU KNOW IT WAS INTENTIONAL, RIGHT?

Of Course. Youre Too Bashful To Ask To Cuddle You Either Just Do It Or Find Some Convoluted Way To Make Me Start It

YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT IT WORKS THOUGH.

Yes Okay I Will Give You That

HONESTLY, BEFORE THE INEVITABLE FEELINGS JAME EVEN STARTED, I HAD PLANS TO ASK YOU OUT. 

So Did I But I Wasnt Planning To Go Through With It For Another Week Or So

YEAH I KINDA GOT THAT WHEN YOU SUBCONSCIOUSLY PAPPED ME

I Couldnt Help It You Just Have Such A Pappable Face

WELL SO DO YOU. YOU LOOKED ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED WHEN I DID IT THOUGH.

I Was Just In Shock That You Reciprocated. Plus To Be Fair It Was My First Papping Since…Well…

YEAH I HEAR YOU. I’LL ADMIT I WAS A LITTLE WORRIED BUT ONCE YOU CALMED DOWN EVERYTHING WAS ALRIGHT.

You Got So Shy After That You Couldnt Look Me In The Eye Without Blushing

HEY SHUT UP YOUR FACE WASN’T COMPLETELY GRAY EITHER.

Its Not An Insult Honey You Looked Adorable

I’M NOT ADORABLE OKAY. I WAS JUST A BIT OVEREXCITED IS ALL.

Heh You Proved That When You Leaned Over And-

NO NOPE NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT.

Oh Come On Its Just Us Here

DOESN’T MATTER.

Really Karkat You Don’t Have To Be Embarrassed About It. You Dont…Regret It Do You?

WHAT? NO. NO OF COURSE NOT. I MEAN AT THE TIME IT STARTED OUT AS AN ACCIDENT, BUT YOU DIDN’T SEEM COMPLETELY APPAULED BY IT SO I TOOK THAT AS AN OKAY AND…I DON’T REGRET IT THOUGH.

I Mean It Made Things A Little Complicated But Quadrants Don’t Strictly Have To Be Red And Black

YEAH. WE SAID TO HELL WITH THE SYSTEM WHEN WE STARTED THIS REBELLION, MIGHT AS WELL ADD THE QUADRANT SYSTEM TO IT TOO

Palemates Require Intimacy After All

…THAT SOUNDED SUSPICIOUSLY MORE LIKE ‘PAIL’ THAN ‘PALE’, KAN.

They Literally Sound Exactly The Same So There’s No Way Of Knowing

…

Its Not Like Yours Is Completely Void Of Green

FUCKING CHRIST, MARYAM.

According To Old Civilization Culture I Technically Have

IM SO DONE WITH YOU RIGHT NOW.

Pale For You Too Sweetheart

YEAH YEAH. PALE FOR YOU.


	6. Creating Mairah Virnig and Bee-Amazed (Sollux's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retells the birth of Kanaya and Sollux's alter egos (happens sometime between Terezi's arrival at the Cult hideout and the Cult/Battalion alliance). Gore/body horror hinted to but nothing descriptive, other than that no triggers

“Medithinal perthonel?”

“That kind of training would take too much time. Programmers?”

“I’d get Helmthman thtatuth in two thecondth flat, and you’re ath bad ath KK at coding. Film directorth?”

“Your arms are so scrawny you wouldn’t be able to support the weight of a camera, let alone operate one.”

“Well fucking excuthe me but the gun thhow ithn’t exactly thold out for you, either.”

Kanaya runs a hand through her hair and sighs. “This is getting us nowhere.”

It’s true. Despite the benefit it could offer for the rebellion, your attempts to pick up a side trade to gather intel haven’t been successful. Not only do most of your interests contradict each other, your talents don’t align well for the type of work you’re trying to get into. Working undercover for the Empire will be no easy feat. It’s difficult enough just trying to decide where to start.

“Well, maybe we can approach thith a different way. What are we abtholutely _not_ willing to do?”

“Anything directly related to the army subsets. Sanitation work, food distribution, weaponry overseeing; it’s not high up enough for us to benefit from it, not to mention we’dhave to associate with people that might become collateral later.”

You nod. The pros and cons really don’t balance themselves out. “We altho have to conthider that blood hue will be a problem. Even if we get our handth on pigment alterathion drugth, changing to anything higher than teal will theem out of plathe.”

“So our best bet is the arts. Less restrictions but still the possibility of infiltration.”

“One problem. I can’t draw for thhit.” 

She smirks. “That makes two of us. And let’s not even consider acting. It’s too cutthroat, literally.”

You can’t argue with that; it seems every day there’s word of another hit sitcom losing a character because their actor wasn’t up to the director’s standards. All of them are decaying in a ditch somewhere, if there’s anything left on their bones to decay.

“Okay, what about muthic? How tone deaf are you?”

“You know, I don’t actually know,” she replies. “Karkat seems to like it when I sing but I’m not sure if you consider that a good indicator or not of my abilities.”

“The kid’th not deaf but he definitely hath a biath. Although now I’m curiouth.” You lean back in your seat and put your feet up on the makeshift coffee table. “Let’th thee what you’ve got.”

She gives you a look. “What, now?”

“Yeah now, thing thomething. Anything.”

“Well um. Alright.” She straightens up a bit. “I hope you’re not expecting any slam poetry, I can tell you up front that it’s not my forte.”

“Fine by me.” You wave your hand as a signal for her to get this show on the road.

You admit that you weren’t really sure what to expect. Singing has never really been your thing (you thought you were decent up until you caught Terezi singing to herself, and even Karkat can carry a tune better than you can) so judging others on their ability doesn’t seem very fair. But even you can tell that _wow Kanaya can fucking sing_.

It’s an ancient Alternian lullaby you’ve known since wigglerhood, one lusii often sing to their charges when they fuss too much. It’s a strange alternative to the traditional “get into your coon before I slice off your limbs” method but your own lusus used it occasionally. The Alternian language isn’t known for having the most gentle of syllables, and admittedly some words feel like they damage your vocal chords whenever you say them, but somehow Kanaya shapes the grated words into a silky melody. You feel yourself swaying back and forth to the tune, enraptured as she traverses every note as if on tiptoe, waltzing her way through your aural canals and leaving a pleasant numbness as she goes. When she finishes, the trance breaks and the background noise of voices in the adjacent room poisons your ears. You’re actually angry that it has the nerve to occupy the same air that her song did.

“If you laugh,” her voice invades the offending background hum, “I’ll make sure you don’t get your ration of sweets this week.”

It takes you a moment to realize that she thinks your silence is a sign of disgust. She doesn’t think anything of her ability. Karkat’s opinion, which you have no doubt has been an endless stream of praise and begging for encores, has been brushed off as pale encouragement. Poor thing doesn’t know her own talent.

“Holy fucking _thhit_ , KN, you’ve got a thet of pipeth there.”

She blinks. “Should I be taking that as a compliment or..?”

“Take a million complimentth. Theriouthly Kan if I had that kind of talent I’d never thtop thinging.”

“You really thought it was good?”

“Grubloaf ith good. _That_ wath phenomenal.”

Jade lightly dusts her face and she smiles at the compliments.

“Tho we’re definitely going the muthic route.”

“Are we sure that we’re definitely sold on that? Can you sing at all?”

“Not very well,” you admit, “but I can rig up a thoundboard tho you’ve got a backbeat to work with.”

“The empress _does_ have a soft spot for music. It wouldn’t be out of the question for her to invite popular musicians to galas and the like.”

“Putting uth ath clothe to her and other higher-upth ath we can get without anyone thuthpecting a thing.”

Kanaya’s grin widens. “Sounds like we’ve found our way in.”

“Tho. Muthic group?”

“I’m in if you are.”

“Oh I’m definitely in.”

“Then let’s get to work.”

 

\--

 

Although he’s understandably hesitant and there’s a lot of yelling, pleading, and unholy screeching coupled with a string of sarcastic commentary from the peanut gallery (i.e. Terezi), Karkat eventually concedes to your plan, and the career of famed musical duo Mairah Virnig and Bee-Amazed comes to life. 

Both you and Kanaya agree, whenever somebody asks out of curiosity, that actual preparation before a performance is the hardest part of pulling the whole thing off. Stage fright never really plagued either of you, and becoming convincing liars in front of the highbloods was a snap to perfect. No, it’s the transformation you go through that proves to be exhausting every time.

Miraculously you do manage to get your hands on blood hue alteration drugs (ridiculously expensive on the black market, generously discounted by a rebellion sympathizer). They take a full day to kick in, 24 hours spent in blinding agony that even a good papping can barely calm. But when the effects finally become noticeable you find your blood to be as olive as Nepeta’s, and Kanaya’s irises sport a tint of cyan.

Horns are another monster entirely. In this regard you’re the luckier one: faux horns can be constructed and slipped neatly over your real ones, masking your signature duality protrusions poking out of your hair. Kanaya is not so lucky. With her horn shapes as unorthodox as they are, a simple cap won’t cut it, even if they could fit. And so, at her own suggestion, in the days leading up to each performance she has people help her break off the upper part of each horn. It’s draining no matter how many times she does it. The only place to hold for leverage is at the base where horn meets skull (otherwise they risk snapping her neck), and more than once they’ve very nearly ripped the entire things out. Though they’ve gotten better at it, you still keep Karkat far away from the infirmary lest he hears the screams she’s unable to keep in. But when all is said and done and the caps are in place you all know it’s worth the ordeal.

Everything else goes without saying: different hairstyles, makeup to cover her freckles, a stud to replace your beloved’s sign in your ear (you understand why you have to but it doesn’t mean you’re okay with it). Your outfits hide how thin you really are and her dresses always cover up the Shackles on her collarbone. When it’s time to leave you can hardly believe you’re the same people, your real selves are covered up so well.

So yes, it’s definitely becoming Mairah and Bee that’s the hardest part for you two.

 

\--

FUN FACT ZONE (AKA LITTLE DETAILS THAT WOULDN'T FIT IN THE NARRATIVE ABOVE)

\- To give you guys an idea of the kind of transformation these two have to go through every time they're out in the public eye, I did I quick sketch of before and after photos of Kanaya

                                        **BEFORE                                                                    AFTER**

\- Sollux wears contacts to mask his heterochromia 

\- Blood hue alteration drugs last approximately one week from the initial usage; converting back to the original color is a lot less painful than the other way around 

\- My headcanon troll horns grow back, meaning by the time they have another performance Kanaya's horns have grown enough that she needs them to be snapped off again 

\- Mairah Virnig is an altered version of the phrase Virgin Mary (this was unintentional; Kanaya just likes the way it sounds)

\- Sollux goes strictly by Bee-Amazed but has a backup hatch name saved in case authorities ever ask for it

\- Backstory: Mairah was in a kismessitude in her wigglerhood that ended violently (she claims that she's disfigured, serving as an excuse for her dresses always being high cut with no open back). Bee's lusus was killed in a confrontation with another lusus and their charge. The two eventually met, became matesprits, and started their musical career

\- Said backstory isn't asked about often but they have it down just in case

\- I'll add more as I remember it


	7. The Predecessor Ceremony (Feferi's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retells Feferi's equivalent of Conscription Day. There's some mentions of gore/blood but nothing serious and no other triggers

Your feet ache from the friction of complex waltzes too many in heels too high. You’re suffocating from the cologne and perfume, from the aroma of the finest cuisine available, from the anxiety weighing down on your chest. You knew this would be unpleasant but it’s much worse than you foresaw.

The Predecessor Ceremony has earned a place on your list of things to eliminate when you come into power.

At first glance the formality almost seems enjoyable: at its core, it’s a gala, extravagant and luxurious. The itinerary doesn’t stray much from dancing and eating, enjoying a night of the high life with others who share your tastes. But the true purpose of the gathering still makes its dark self known, casting shadows over the dance floor and straight through to your mind. The average partygoer has the privilege of ignoring the phantom and dancing the night away in peace. You aren’t so lucky.

Because this celebration is really a declaration of war, against you.

As the next in line, you’re expected to dual with the current empress in a fight to the death, no holds barred, and the winner is crowned the leader of the Alternian Empire. Until tonight, following tradition, you have been marked as off limits. Even if she had made the trip back to your home planet and located you, she couldn’t have killed you just yet. It would have been in bad taste, and Gl'bgolyb’s protection certainly helped to keep her at bay. But now that Conscription Day has come and gone for your generation you’re no longer considered too young to battle for the throne. At this age you have a fighting chance to, if not win, at least be worth the empress’s time. What’s the fun in slaughtering a little wiggler who can’t even hold up their trident?

When you leave the ball tonight, you’re fair game. Your lusus, whom she has reclaimed as her own, can no longer defend you. As far as the military is concerned you’re not a fugitive and they’ll make no move on your life, but she will do everything in her power to eliminate you whenever she sees fit.

It’s been a while since the last heir was murdered so you don’t think she’ll shoot down your ship when you make your exit. At least you hope so. She likes to play with her prey but if the mood strikes her she’ll have no qualms against getting rid of you the moment she can.

But until then you’ll be subjected to this party. A celebration in your honor, in reality a eulogy for your anticipated demise. No one here expects you to survive. Why would you, when every princess before you has one by one fallen to their cherished Imperious Condescension? The general demeanor used towards you isn’t very hostile, but you’re not getting a lot of respect, either. You’re a dead woman walking and at best they feel a bit remorseful. Just a bit. Enough that wishes of good luck are followed by “you’re going to need it.”

The current song comes to a close and you’re released from the captivity of your dancing partner, a violetblood who spits with his p’s and whose hands wander too low for comfort. You put on your best smile, relaxed and inviting, and curtsey to his bow. He slaps your ass as he goes and it takes everything you have to not slit his throat with your nails. No damn respect here.

Just as you go to sit down and curse your blood for the umpteenth time tonight, an announcement is made from a seadweller sporting royal garbs: “Bow before Her Excellency, Her Contemptuousness, Her Imperious Condescension!”

By the word “excellency” everyone in the vicinity has dropped to their knees, heads down as if you all respect the ground you walk on more than you do your empress. As it should be, you think bitterly, as the Condesce glides into the room.

If you were suffocating before, you’re completely asphyxiated by her presence. A primal urge within you rises up and overshadows all thoughts you have beyond “kill” and “destroy” and the like. You want to grasp her neck in your delicate hands and squeeze until it disintegrates. You want to tear into her flesh and let the blood so much like your own run until there’s nothing left to spill. It’s bloodlust, it’s senseless rage. It’s as pitch as the abyss you wish to cast her into with no sliver of compassion.

Your eyes follow her hungrily as she approaches you, and you’re ashamed at the snarl that almost escapes your lips.

“So. You the one who’s gonna be fightin’ me for the crown?” she asks.

The informal tone of her voice catches you off guard (although the way it mimics the sound of serrated knives being sharpened does not). You fight to keep yours steady as you reply, “That’s me.”

“Got a name, kid?”

“Feferi.”

“Feferi.” She tests out your name and you loathe the way it sounds coming from her mouth. “Cute. Don’t make no one cower in fear but it suits you.”

It’s an attempt at a compliment but all it succeeds in doing is making your blood boil more. You’d love nothing but to make _her_ cower in fear, to hear her scream for mercy and watch the life fade from her eyes as you deny her pleas. You’ve never experienced this side of you before but you’re all for embracing it.

“You dance?” she’s asking, because you haven’t acted on your fantasies (yet) and she still can (for now).

“Decently.”

“Good. I’ll be your last partner for the night.” She barely gets a chance to look at the band before their conductor prepares them for the last song. She holds out a hand to you, and when your skin burns when you take it you nearly flinch out of her grasp (you swear you see her wince as well).

The band begins another waltz (just your luck) as she leads you out to the middle of the dance floor, everyone else hugging the walls to watch. The Predecessor Ceremony ends with the empress sharing a dance with the empress-to-be, the latter who afterwards promptly gets the fuck out of there as quickly as possible. Earlier you thought this would be difficult due to fatigue; the issue now is completely opposite: a rush of adrenaline that challenges your self-control as you both curtsey and begin to dance.

One two three. One two three. One two three. You repeat this mantra in your head not to keep time, but to keep you sane. Although the accompanying dances have left you exhausted tonight, waltzes have always comforted you. You remember a time back when things were so much simpler, dancing around your hive with Eridan and letting the music sweep away your childish worries. As you let yourself be lost to the music he held you, as Sollux did after him, and you focus on the happiness you shared with them rather than how much you want to eradicate the owner of the arms you find yourself in now.

Said owner starts up a conversation. “Still dunno why I follow this jank-ass formality and don’t just go after you runts from the get-go.”

“Tradition is hard to stray from.”

“Ha, you tellin’ me. I run the joint and I deal with that bull all the time.”

“I’d think you’d have at least some leeway. You _are_ the ruler, after all.”

“You’d fuckin’ think, right?” She rolls her eyes. “Whole thing’s under scrutiny from the fuckin’ church. Always whinin’ ‘bout this messiah or that, borderline condemnin’ me ‘cause my fine atheistic self don’t give a glub. They got sticks so high up their asses if I don’t appease them it’s that much harder to get my hands on some Moon Mist.”

“Moon Mist isn’t even worth the trouble, why bother?”

“Ever tried Faygo?” You nod. “Then you know you can’t kick that shit once you start.”

“Guess I’m lucky then. By the third bottle my ex had the right mind to wean me off of it.” You involuntarily shudder at the memory; had Eridan had a higher regard for the swill, you’d both be as deep in the drink as Gamzee was (and to your knowledge, is). “Mix in some antiseptic, the gill burn will knock you off it right away.”

You don’t know why you’re helping her. Maybe because you want to be the only cause of her eternal suffering? That’s the best way you can rationalize it.

She regards you for a moment, then smirks. “You ain’t bad, kid. Whatcha say your name was again? Falary?”

“Feferi.”

“Right, right. So far you’re a boatload better than the last heir. Snivelin’ little thing, started cryin’ and carryin’ on before I could speak two words to her.”

“Whale if I could speak freely, you’re not exactly the most approachable person. She was probubbly scared out of her mind.”

Her face breaks out into a toothy grin, sharp with unforgiving angles that could rip out a throat with ease. “Congrats, you just bought yourself an extra day of life. You the first princess to drop a fish pun in millennia.”

Using puns when you’re in no joking mood was a complete slip of the tongue, but you suppose you can let it slide this time.

“Dolphinately pretty low on my Little Shit Heirs And How Glubbin’ Disgraceful They Are scale. The rest of the family line? Pshh. Pathetic. You though, you earnin’ some cred in my book. Droppin’ knowledge, droppin’ puns, and look atchu.” She twirls you and the world is a blur. “All dolled up and droppin’ jaws. Can’t say you got your sense of fashion from me a course.”

It’s true; your styles are pretty conflicting. You’ve dressed modestly with a few frills here and there, nothing more conspicuous than you knew you’d already be tonight. Due to the blind fury earlier you completely missed her outfit: spandex mini dress mirroring her typical wardrobe, and heavily decorated in solid gold jewelry. It’s a wonder she can keep herself standing with so many trinkets weighing her down.

She catches you looking her over. “Like the bling? If there’s anythin’ the scumblood castes are good for, it’s craftin’ up some hella sick shit for me to wear.”

And there’s that blind fury again. Try as you might to stay calm you still feel your hands grip a little tighter on her than they should. You’d nearly forgotten who you’ve been talking to and all the wrongs in the world that she represents. What you would give to completely destroy the abomination before you.

Not yet, though. Not here. When the time is right, when it’s just you and her, then you’ll have your revenge. For every misery she’s put you, your friends, your entire kind through.

For now, as you hear the slander she speaks in your ear of the civilizations she’s crumbled to dust, of the caste system that sentences those you hold dear to lives of hardship and woe, and the music that serves as your only solace, you do the only thing you can do.

You waltz.


	8. Karkat and Terezi's Reunion (Karkat's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retells their reunion when Terezi arrives at the Cult. No triggers

She shakes like a leaf in your arms and it’s a wonder you have the energy to stay standing.

There’s words being exchanged but you don’t comprehend what she’s saying or what’s coming out of your own mouth. All of your brainpower is being used up registering that she’s _here_ , she’s here and she seems unharmed and you think she’s attempting to say hello but her lips are too preoccupied with meeting yours to get it out. Your heart sings and you just can’t seem to get her close enough to you, though there’s no space left between you to fill. Are you crying? You think you’re crying.

In this moment there’s over a sweep’s worth of anxiety released. It’s agonizing to recall how long you’ve lived in fear, haunted by the possibility of her never finding her way back to Alternia, of never finding the hideout, of being lost to you forever, and now your mind is more at rest than it’s been in a long while.

In the middle of a sob she hiccups. That sets off another one, and another, and it’s such an uncharacteristic sound for her to make that it sets you off into a fit of giggles. It only serves to make her laugh too, and hiccup more, and your tears of joy turn into tears of laughter.

You bump your forehead against hers (something you now have to look slightly down to do, you note proudly). “Damn it Pyrope, you’re ruining the moment.”

“Glad to see you’re as much of a sap as ever,” she laughs. Her fingers twist in your hair and she pulls you in for another kiss.

You want so desperately to be alone with her. Every morning since you were conscripted you’ve ached to have her fill the space in your arms. You could give her a kiss for every hour spent apart and it still wouldn’t feel like enough, though you’ll certainly try. You want to revel in the feel of her skin with no worn-out clothing interfering. You want to be connected in every way possible and never separate again.

But you know you can’t, because there’s the issue of adjusting her to rebel life and introducing her to your followers, and she surely wants to spend time with her moirail who has longed for her as long as you have, and you’re kind of making out in the middle of the room in front of _your_ palemate which maybe isn’t the most polite thing so you should probably cut that out. So yes, there’s a need for some down time from the “never separating” thing.

She hums happily against your lips and you catch yourself smiling, because despite that down time you feel so overwhelmingly blessed to just have her back.


	9. TIMELINE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For your convenience and mine, I whipped up a quick timeline for the AU. I have the entirety of the plot worked out but obviously events near the end of the timeline are spoilers, and have been omitted here. When I finally stop writing I’ll repost this with the remaining events intact.

**ANCESTOR ERA**

\- The Signless is executed, the Dolorosa is sold into slavery, the Ψiioniic becomes the Helmsman, and the Disciple and the E%ecuter go into exile. The Signless’ followers go into hiding and begin preparations for his rebirth.

\- The Dolorosa is murdered by Dualscar.

\- Dualscar goes before GHB and is murdered.

\- Redglare is executed. Mindfang first learns of the Summoner and discards the 8 ball and her journal.

\- The Summoner is born.

\- The Summoner begins the cavalreaper uprising.

\- Mindfang joins the cavalreaper uprising. The Disciple finishes writing The Book of the Signless and commits suicide.

\- Mindfang is murdered by the Summoner.

\- The cavalreaper uprising fails and the Summoner dies in battle. All adults are banned from Alternia.

\---

**POST-ANCESTOR ERA**

\- The Scourge/Charge debacle occurs.

\- Conscription Day; everyone is sent to their respective positions off-planet, sans Kanaya (assigned to the caverns) and Feferi (due to royalty status).

\- Karkat’s visions begin. Feferi attends the traditional Predecessor Ceremony.

\- Karkat, Sollux, and Nepeta escape to Alternia. Tavros learns of the original cavalreaper uprising under the Summoner.

\- Karkat, Sollux, and Nepeta find the Cult. Tavros begins rallying the cavalreaper corps for an uprising. Equius abandons the executioner corps.

\- Feferi contacts Eridan and begin Op:Ab. Tavros and Aradia escape to Alternia and form the Battalion.

\- Kanaya escapes from the caverns. Equius finds Op:Ab.

\- Kanaya finds the Battalion. Vriska abandons [REDACTED] in search of the Battalion.

\- Kanaya is sent to the Cult. Terezi escapes to Alternia.

\- Terezi finds the Battalion. Op:Ab begins collecting followers.

\- Terezi is sent to the Cult. Vriska finds the Battalion.

\- Kanaya and Sollux create Mairah Virnig and Bee-Amazed. Their performances occur on a semi-regular basis from this point out.

\- The Cult and the Battalion form an alliance.

\- The Battalion begins receiving messages from Op:Ab, which they relay to the Cult.

\- ???


	10. Op:Ab Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A typical conversation between the Battalion and Op:Ab. No triggers

compliancyAquatics [CA] began trolling adiosToreador  [AT]

YOUR SERVER IS BEING SCANNED, PLEASE HOLD.

…

…

SCAN COMPLETE. YOUR SERVER HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE **_SATISFACTORY_**. YOUR CREDIBILITY BASED ON PAST INTERACTIONS IS **_90%_**. YOUR CONNECTION IS **_WEAK AS SHIT_**.

CA: I sea your scanner hasn’t improvved much since last time

CA: and that you’re still usin the same fuckin handle from pre conscription

CA: cod wwhat kind of rebellion are you people runnin dowwn there

CA: hello?

CA: tavv are you evven there

AT: cONSIDERING I’VE KEPT IT GOING WITH NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE, aND NOT A LOT OF RESOURCES, i’D THINK I DESERVE A LITTLE MORE CREDIT,

AT: wHILE YOU, jUST TAKE ORDERS MOST OF THE TIME,,, aND HAVE NO ROOM TO JUDGE ME, aND MY METHODS,

CA: wwoww fuck you tavv

CA: wwe both knoww I do a boatload for Op:Ab howw dare you suggest I’m just some sort of lackey

CA: I’m as important as anybody else in this damn uprising and don’t you forget it

AT: mAYBE I’D RETURN THE SENTIMENT, iF YOU BOTHERED TO TREAT ME LIKE YOUR EQUAL,

AT: aND YOU KNOW,

AT: eMBRACE THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS REBELLION IN THE FIRST PLACE?

CA: yes alright you’re my fuckin equal but wwould you stop this hullabeluga about complete anarchy from the system bein the solution to evverythin?

AT: hULLABELUGA?

CA: hullaballoo and beluga. you knoww, like the wwhale

AT: oH, hAHA, tHAT’S ACTUALLY PRETTY CLEVER,

CA: thanks

AT: bUT REALLY, tHE CASTE SYSTEM DEMOLITION IS THE CRITICAL POINT HERE, iN TRYING TO FIX SOCIETY,

CA: you’re still not considerin that at its core the system actually does wwork out in evveryone’s favvor

CA: evveryone has their place, does wwhat they need to do, and contributes back to society and keeps the cycle goin

CA: yeah it’s strayed a bit and wwe need to smooth out a few rough patches but wwhen it comes dowwn to it howw is wwhat wwe’re doin any different from wwhat wwe’ve already got?

AT: i STILL FIND IT, sO HILARIOUS, tHAT YOU CONSIDER WHAT PEOPLE HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH, aND STILL GO THROUGH, aRE JUST ‘ROUGH PATCHES’,

AT: iF eQUIUS HADN’T FINISHED MY PROSTHETICS IN TIME, tHEY WOULD HAVE JUST CULLED ME ON THE SPOT, bECAUSE WHY WASTE RESOURCES ON ANYONE UNDER BLUE?

AT: i’VE HAD TO PLAY MEDIC FOR MY MOIRAIL, mULTIPLE TIMES, bECAUSE AT MAROON THEY JUST SEE HER AS TRASH THAT NEEDS TO BE DISPOSED OF,

AT: mY FRIENDS HAVE NEVER KNOWN A NIGHT THAT WASN’T SPENT IN TERROR, tHAT THEY’D BE DEAD BEFORE DAYBREAK, bECAUSE OF SOMETHING THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OVER,

AT: aND YOU SIT THERE AND CALL IT ALL JUST ‘ROUGH PATCHES’,

CA: look tavv, I get it

AT: nO, yOU REALLY DON’T,

CA: you knoww our livves on the other end of the hemospectrum isn’t all daffodils and happiness either

CA: there’s so much pressure to livve up to our ancestors and be evven better than they wwere, and if you aren’t, wwhat’s the point a you bein alivve and takin up space?

CA: fef’s had daymares since she wwas 2 and they told her the condesce wwouldn’t let her livve past 8

CA: wwhat I’m getting at is the system needs an ovverhaul but we can’t just eliminate it completely

AT: aND WHY NOT,

CA: for all the bravado the highbloods havve wwe really can’t do shit. wwe’re not designed for hard labor, wwe’re more suited as strategists

CA: and wwhile wwe take care of that, someone else needs to be putting our plans into action

CA: and wwho’s better suited to that kind of wwork than people wwho havve been doin it for swweeps already?

CA: wwe’re all equal here, but wwe have to face the fact that the system isn’t entirely off base here. look, fef’s got this all figured out, I’m tellin you

AT: wOW,

AT: kARKAT WAS RIGHT,

CA: right about wwhat?

AT: nEVER MIND,

AT: wE’RE MAJORLY OFF TOPIC ANYWAYS, wHY ARE YOU CONTACTING US?

CA: oh right I completely forgot

CA: fef wwanted me to let you guys knoww that your location is still safe

CA: the Empire’s on the movve but at this point their trajectory isn’t clear. the chances that they’re going home aren’t any better than the chances that they’re goin to any other planet

CA: also equ wanted to send along a message to nep

AT: gO AHEAD,

CA: “tell miss leijon that things here remain adequate, and that I hope the same for her. tell her that if there’s anyfin she needs, to let me knoww posthaste, and I wwill do wwhat I can. and finally, tell her than I miss her terribubbly and look forwward to the moment that wwe may be together once more” diamond symbol

CA: minus the puns but you get the idea

AT: i’LL PASS IT ALONG, tHANKS,

CA: shit

AT: ?

CA: augh there’s a buncha commotion goin on I gotta go sort out

CA: lousy rebels and their lousy ability to interrupt me during my dowwn time

CA: later tavv

AT: bYE,

compliancyAquatics  [CA] ceased trolling adiosToreador  [AT]

CONNECTION HAS BEEN SEVERED.

DO YOU WISH TO SAVE THIS LOG FOR FUTURE REFERENCE?

>yes

NAME:

>fishasshole.cht

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No idea if/when I'll elaborate on this again so I might as well do it here.
> 
> Karkat, Tavros, and Feferi all have good intentions behind the rebellion and genuinely want to fix Alternian society to make it better for generations to come. Their plans post-rebellion, however, conflict in some aspects, and causes a bit of a rift between the Cult, the Battalion, and Op:Ab.
> 
> Karkat wants to eliminate the use of the hemospectrum as an indicator of status/competency/overall worth, although he approves of the general layout of the military and how it's run. He wants the government to be ruled by one elected leader (he doesn't intend to run).  
> Tavros takes this a step further and wants the system to be completely eradicated, to start from scratch. His ideal setup for the future is a socialistic democracy under a group of elected leaders (if he was elected in he'd humbly accept it).  
> Feferi wants to eradicate the system as well, but with the intention of rebuilding it while following the same core principles that the current one was founded on. Consider Beforus society and you have what she wants to do in a nutshell (she thinks it best that she retain her role as royalty to accomplish this).
> 
> Karkat sees Feferi's plans as no better than the current system, because it still favors highbloods and belittles lowbloods and those off-spectrum. Feferi disapproves of Tavros's plans because they stray so far from traditional Alternian government, and a group of people ruling rather than just one seems like too much room for error. Tavros has issues with Karkat's plans because he thinks Karkat respects the Condesce's universal domination tactics too much and it will interfere with addressing the issues back on Alternia. And so on and so forth.
> 
> For now the three tolerate one another (some better than others, see Tavros taking Karkat's side on the hemospectrum debate), but post-rebellion (if they get that far) a few sparks will likely fly.


	11. Relationship - Terezi ♦ Sollux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi and Sollux jam about some uneasy feelings. No triggers

WH4T YOU’R3 S4Y1NG 1S TH3Y WON’T B3 4BL3 TO 4SS3MBL3 TH3M W1TH TH3 M34SUR3M3NTS CURR3NTLY ON TH3 SCH3M4T1CS, B3C4US3 TH3 COD1NG L4NGU4G3 1S TOO 4DV4NC3D.

riight, 2o we’d need two convert the uniits two 2omethiing more priimiitiive, becau2e the incompetency level iin thii2 rebelliion ii2 a2toundiing

4ND TH3 MULT1PL13R 1N TH3 CONV3RS1ON WOULD B3..?

two

SHOCK3R.

tomorrow ii’ll contact aa and 2ee how far they are in productiion. maybe they won’t have two completely 2crap la2t week’2 work

4LR1GHT, 1’LL 4DJUST MY PLOTS L4T3R. DO3S TH4T M34N W3’R3 CL34R FOR TON1GHT?

look2 liike iit

TH4NK S1GNL3SS, W3’V3 B33N 4T TH1S FOR HOURS NOW. UGH, 1 F33L 4 P4N4CH3 COM1NG ON >:[

iit’2 what you get when you agree to work wiith aiircraft productiion

‘4GR33’ 1S SUCH 4 STRONG WORD, 1 PR3F3R ‘COMPROM1S3D’. W34PONRY W4S MY F1RST CHO1C3 BUT K4N4Y4’S BUSY G1V1NG 4 S3RMON OR SOM3 SH1T.

yeah, becau2e my diivii2ion iis an area where you can compromii2e. need ii remiind you that wiithout me none of your infiiltratiion plan2 would have an escape route

4ND W1THOUT H3R D1V1S1ON W3 WOULDN’T B3 4BL3 TO D3F3ND OURS3LV3S. BUT 1’LL B3 SO TH4NKFUL FOR TH4T SH1P WH3N TH3R3’S 4 BULL3T 4LR34DY THROUGH MY H34D, TH4NKS 1N 4DV4NC3.

oh fuck you

1’M JUST M3SS1NG W1TH YOU, C4PTOR. L1GHT3N UP.

well when you put iit liike that…fuck you

YOU’R3 B3G1NN1NG TO R33K OF GRUMP1N3SS. WH3N’S TH3 L4ST T1M3 YOU GOT 4NY SHUT-3Y3?

don’t even 2tart, ii’m not kk ii actually 2leep a couple of tiime2 a miilleniia

TH3N WH4T’S GOT YOU MORE GROUCHY THAN USUAL?

…

S3R1OUSLY SOL, YOU OK4Y?

…

SOLLUX.

ii’m fiine. iit’2 ju2t…

JUST WH4T?

ii don’t know. ii ju2t feel…off today

YOU W4NN4 J4M 4BOUT 1T?

…ii don’t really know how to put iit iinto word2. iit’s…do you remember that tiime when you were conviinced the Empiire was goiing to anniihiilate the planet?

Y34H. 1 ST1LL DON’T KNOW WH4T W4S UP W1TH TH4T, 1 KN3W 1T D1DN’T M4K3 4NY S3NS3 BUT 1 W4S 4BSOLUT3LY C3RT41N 1T W4S GO1NG TO H4PP3N. H3H. 1 ST4RT3D S4Y1NG GOODBY3 TO P3OPL3 4ND 3V3RYTH1NG.

that feeliing, where you knew better but 2tiill beliieved? ii’m feeliing that

4BOUT WH4T?

that’2 ju2t iit, ii have no iidea. but 2omethiing’s wrong. we’re not accounting for 2omethiing, there’2 a variable we’ve left rogue and ii can’t fiigure out what iit iis

M4YB3 TH3R3'S SOM3TH1NG WRONG W1TH TH3 C4LCUL4T1ONS. OR YOU JUST TH1NK TH3R3 1S. YOU’V3 B33N WORK1NG 4 WH1L3 W1THOUT 4NY DOWNT1M3, YOU COULD B3 BURN1NG OUT.

maybe. but ii thiink iit’2 bigger than that. ugh, ii can’t thiink clearly, my miind iis too noiisy riight now

HOW 4BOUT TH1S: W3’LL SL33P FOR THE R3ST OF TOD4Y, 4ND WH3N W3 G3T UP W3’LL S33 HOW YOU’R3 F33L1NG. 1F NOTH1NG’S CH4NG3D W3’LL GO B4CK 4ND S33 1F W3 OV3RLOOK3D 4NYTH1NG. SOUND GOOD?

better than nothiing ii gue22

1F YOU’R3 4NYTH1NG L1K3 M3, YOU’LL B3 OV3R 1T SOON. 1T W4S ONLY A ON3 N1GHT TH1NG.

eugh, liike ii want two be anythiing liike you

1 GU3SS YOU’R3 NOT LOOK1NG TO 4CH13V3 P3RF3CT1ON TH3N!

oh defiiniitely not, the uniiver2e can’t handle 2o much perfectiion in one 2iittiing

1T C3RT41NLY C4N, S331NG 4S W3 BOTH 3X1ST.

2o you’re 2ayiing ii’m perfection, yet 2tiill need to achiieve iit?

1 DON’T WR1T3 TH3 RUL3S MR. C4PTOR 1’M JUST TH3 M3SS3NG3R G1RL.

what a dork

SHUT UP 4ND GO TO SL33P, N3RD, B3FOR3 1 P4P YOU 4G41N.

oh not the pappiing, have mercy on me

3H3H3, TH4T’S WH4T 1 THOUGHT. >:]


	12. Vriska's Arrival (Tavros's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska arrives at the Battalion base. Tavros's physical/emotional response mirrors that of an abuse victim (as he is one) so here's a warning for that, otherwise no triggers.

“Left. Left! Your _other_ left! Quarter turn!” Menvra strikes out, shifting her weight onto one foot and with the other takes a swing, aiming for her opponent’s head. Cichol’s just a second faster though and ducks low, taking advantage of his new vantage point and swiping at her supporting leg. But after a number of matches with him this week, she’s expecting it; this time, she’s ready. Quickly hopping up out of arm’s reach, she throws her weight forward and plants her feet firmly into his biceps, crashing him to the ground. As he struggles for freedom she grinds her heels in and he barks out expletives.

“Done!” You call time. “Good work guys! See Menvra, told you you’ve got the swing down.” She beams at you, a triple set of pearly white fangs poking out. She frees her sparring partner and you offer him a hand. “Great job, Cichol. Try coming at the leg from a different angle, I think she’s got your current one memorized.” He replies with a smile and a Yes, Sir. “Alright, go get your lunch rations.” With quick bows they run off for the mess hall, weaving through their fellow soldiers still in the middle of their own brawls.

The one thing you love above all else about your position is times like this. Getting to teach and train your soldiers, watching them progress from mere novices and the excitement on their faces when they master something new, it’s all riveting to you. Even if nothing else comes from it, you’re proud to know your followers will leave this Battalion with the knowledge and ability to defend themselves, to take down obstacles they never thought possible before. Certainly the same goes for you; you’re not as defenseless as you were sweeps ago. You feel resilient, empowered. Respected. It’s so foreign of a feeling but so much better than you ever dreamed it would be.

Pre-lunch training is almost over. It’d probably be best to-

“Tavros!”

Your name rings loud across the landscape and you whip your head around. The voice reminds you of a fiddle, played gracefully with a tinge of mischievousness hidden within. Very fitting for her. But the alien hint of apprehension in it is what gets your attention.

Aradia sends off the pair she’s been supervising with her eyes locked in your direction. From opposite sides of the valley you can’t hold a proper conversation, but by now you’ve both learned to read each other’s movements. Though they’re often code for complicated strings of phrases, the message she conveys now is a simple one. A finger slid across her throat and a nod to your left: _on your guard, someone’s approaching_.

You turn and in the distance you make out the figure she must be referring to. It seems to be just one person, perhaps a straggler come to join the resistance movement. The way they move, however, is odd. You’re used to the timid dispositions of new anarchists, still unsure of themselves. This one you can tell, even from this distance, walks with a purpose, with no signs of insecurity. Not a comforting sign.

You grab the whistle hung around your neck and blow thrice. The small committee you’ve gathered of leaders hears the call and they start ushering the others back to the base like bleatbeasts. Until you know the situation is secure you won’t risk your soldiers.

“A!” you call out. She pries her eyes from the flock. You take a few steps forward and mirror her finger movement from earlier; _follow me, but be careful_ you tell her. She nods and the two of you move in the direction of the figure quickly approaching.

You’re nearly halfway there when there’s a hiccup in your step and you nearly drop to your knees. Because you’re sure now that they’re no usual straggler. Because you recognize that face. Because there’s suddenly a lump in your throat that you can’t swallow down.

You glance at Aradia, who’s noticed the change in your walk. The confusion in her face confirms that you aren’t just seeing things. Or if you are, she is too. You’re both being subjected to the same baffling reality and quite honestly you’re having a hard time processing this.

Because a moment later you’re standing face to face, once again, with Vriska Serket.

Try as you might you still can’t dispose of the lump in your throat; you don’t dare attempt to speak, lest you sputter and make a fool of yourself. The very thought is humiliating. Aradia also stays quiet, warily eyeing your new guest.

True to her nature, said guest fills the silence. “A dirtblood with mutant wings and his rustblooded handmaid, running a full-scale rebellion against the Empire. Who’d have thought it’d be you two?”

Her good eye scans over you (the other long gone), analytical and calculating, like she’s disassembling you to your core without bothering to put you back together. She pays particular attention to the protrusions you know flutter behind you. You feel naked and exposed. You feel like you’re six sweeps again.

“Glad to hear they’ve taken notice of us,” says Aradia. You note the edge in her voice.

Vriska’s gaze flickers to her. “Our dear Empress doesn’t approve of radicals. She’d stomp you to dust if she knew where you were.”

“Yet somehow _you_ knew.”

“Call it…intuition. She may rule the universe but she’s no Serket.”

“What are you doing here, Vriska?” Your voice is steadier than you thought it would be and you feel a little more confident.

Her focus shifts back to you. “What, you think I’m going to be kept out of the loop here?” She smirks and your confidence fades again. “Your little army just gained another soldier.”

_The fuck?_

 “Wait, let me get this straight. You’re telling us you want to join the rebellion?” Aradia’s clearly as perplexed as you are.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Why on Alternia-“

“You’re not the only ones fed up with the way this show is being run. I’ve been plotting against the system for aaaaaaaages now.” It’s clear that she consciously held that syllable for eight beats. “The whole thing’s too medieval. Too restrictive. Too boring! If I’m ever gonna become the somebody I’m destined to be, I can’t have an old hag and her cronies getting in my way.”

“So you decided to just jump on board our organization.”

“Hey, if you’d given it a perigee more the Mindfang Militia would have been up and running already. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.” She shrugs. “But as it is, I hear you guys have a nice little thing going on here. So if you’d be so kind as to take in a fellow rebel-”

“No.”

She freezes and confusion colors her face; Aradia looks up at you, expressionless, likely trying to read your thoughts. Even you’re surprised by how forceful you sound.

“Uh. Come again?”

“You’re not joining us.”

Her lips mold into a smirk, obviously forced. “And why ever not?”

“Because I’m not having the likes of you anywhere near my army.”

The smirk fades. She stares intently on you, cobalt-tinted irises fixated on the russet ones you see in the mirror. Sweeps ago you would be cowering under her gaze, the way it made you feel like cinderblocks were weighing down on your chest, making it hard to breathe. But now? The anger you feel bubbling up is far stronger than concrete. 

How dare her. How _dare_ her! After every night spent in turmoil, after every inspired daymare, after everything you’d been put through since you’ve met her, you thought this was finally your chance to get away from it all. Conscription Day, sent off billions of trillions of lightsweeps away, you thought you’d been rid of her. Your emotional wounds could have time to scab over. You could rid your mind of every painful memory. You could embrace your moirail and thank the universe for sparing her.

Later when you founded the Battalion it was a fresh start, a step forward to a better tomorrow, not only for you but all of your brethren. You love what you’ve all created here. It’s hope in a hopeless existence. It’s sacred.

And she has the _fucking nerve_ to stand here on revered ground and drag up every burden you buried long ago. Just her presence has unearthed memories you’d blacked out of your pan.   _A taunting, a flight, falling, falling, fear, panic, screaming, GROUND._ There are spots in your vision.

“I’m joining you.”

“Over my rotting corpse.”

She scowls. “Is that a challenge, Toreador? Because I won’t hesitate to-”

Her sentence is cut short by your lance at her throat. Her eyes go wide.

You dig the tip in a bit, not enough to break skin but uncomfortable all the same. You lean in. “Wanna run that by me again, Serket?” She swallows and glares at you, but says nothing. The momentary flash of fear in her eyes said everything you needed to hear.

You pull back but don’t loosen your grip on your weapon; you wouldn’t put it past her to try to attack. “Go back to whatever recess you came from. We’re done here.” With that, you leave.

To your dismay you hear Aradia tell her to stay put before following after you. “Tav.”

“I’m not taking her in.”

“Not saying you have to, I’m saying you should take a minute to consider your options.”

“I don’t need a minute.”

“You’re riled up, you need to think it over. We could benefit from-”

“A I’m not going to deal with this again!” You hate to admit that anger is starting to get the better of you, but you won’t be swayed.

“I’m not telling you to promote her to general I’m asking you to consider what she could offer us!”

You bark out a laugh that grates at your vocal chords. “The only thing Vriska Serket can offer us is our fucking demise on a silver platter!”

“Tav, be reasonable for a second!”

You halt and she follows suit. “You want me to be reasonable? Letting _her_ back into our lives is _reasonable_?! Aradia do you even hear yourself right now?!”

“She could help us!”

“She could kill us!”

“She could save us!”

“She could take everything away from me, _again_!” Your voice has reached screaming levels and you see her wince with every other word. “My pride, my dignity, my limbs. My legs aren’t fucking flesh anymore!” You knock your ankles together and the clang of metal confirms what you say. “Everything we’ve worked for, everything we have here! I won’t let her destroy what we’ve managed to salvage! I won’t risk your life again! I won’t do it!”

For a moment she just stares up at you. Doesn’t say a word, just…stares. You hate when she does that; frankly, it’s unnerving. You avoid her eye when you can’t take it anymore.

Suddenly you’re enveloped in warmth and softness, the signature feeling of her shawl draped around your shoulders. After securing the fastening around your neck she ducks under and wraps her arms around your middle, squeezing. The subtle flutter of the fabric alerts you that you’ve been shaking and you make an effort to stop.

“I don’t want her here either,” you hear her mumble from within the cotton. “I don’t trust her. I don’t think I can forgive her for what she’s done, to all of us.”

You subconsciously rub your thumb over her cheek as she continues. “But she knows things that we don’t. She has intel from the Empire that we can’t get. We have a better chance at succeeding with her as an ally than as an enemy.”

You take a moment to breathe before replying, “I just don’t want to lose anything.”

“We’re on the verge of war. You can’t help it if some things become collateral.”

“Your life isn’t collateral.”  

You feel her smile. “Neither is yours. I understand where you’re coming from; I know better than anyone what you’ve been through. We can make it so we don’t have to associate with her often, just when it’s necessary. If we really wanted to we could send her to the Cult. Terezi’s likely made her way there by now; it’d be an incentive for her.”

You lean your chin on the top of her head as she speaks. “It’s safer for everyone if she’s on our side. Think of it that way.”

It’s upsetting to admit but she has a point there. As much as you’re enamored with the idea of getting to rightly take her down, she could eliminate a large portion of the rebellion before you got to her. The damage she’d inflict on it would be far lesser if she was working for the cause, rather than against it.

Aradia was right about another thing: you knew going into this there’d be collateral to deal with. You’d rather put your sense of comfort on that list than your soldiers’ lives.

You huff, and you cave. “If she makes even half a misstep I’m having her shipped out.”

She looks up at you and grins. “Don’t worry. I’ll personally make the delivery.”

When you get back to her she’s idly standing there, picking at her nails. “So, come to your senses?”

“For somebody who’s not in control here you sure are cocky,” Aradia quips. You nearly let a smirk slip out. No, must be serious here.

“I’m not letting you join because anyone wants you here. Honestly I’d rather see you ripped to shreds rather than getting anywhere near my army.” She glares but doesn’t interrupt. “I’m letting you join because I don’t want you getting in my way.”

“That’s a lot of big talk from someone who used to barely reach my shoulders.”

“The tables have turned now,” (you finally have the height advantage) “and that includes who’s in charge. _You_ follow _my_ orders. You do what you’re told, nothing more, nothing less. Step one toe out of line and you’re out of here.” You step forward until you’re right in her personal space, forcing her to tilt her head up to meet your eye. “And if you make an attempt on anybody’s life,” you growl, “I _will_ kill you.”

She’s scanning you again but you hold steady. Then, slowly, she nods.

“Good. Come with me. We’ll go get the formalities over with.”

You’re not looking forward to this arrangement in the slightest. There’s no trust in it; it’s but a power struggle, and this time around, you’re the dominant one. It runs on your ability to read her actions and uncover her intentions before she can do any harm. You’re half hoping she’ll mess up so you have an excuse to be rid of her.

You’re strong. The question is if you’re strong enough.

\---

Your name is Vriska Serket and you’re seeing black hearts and red spades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the lengthier drabbles yet there's not much action going on. Go figure.


	13. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya and Sollux propose a grand finale for Mairah Virnig and Bee-Amazed. No triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next five chapters or so, all prefaced with The Finale of Mairah and Bee, are one continuous event that should be read in the order that they're posted. It's one of those rare times where things are linear, as opposed to the usual layout where everything's all over the place.
> 
> To put this into perspective, the last drabble takes place a perigee before this one, and the drabble that's planned to follow The Finale arc takes place long before Kanaya finds the Cult. This mishmash of story arcs interrupting standalone drabbles will happen multiple times as the plot thickens

The Gala Is In Honor Of A Blue Blood Whose Ancestry Has Aided The Peixes Family For Millennia So Obviously The Condesce Herself Will Be In Attendance

keepiing up our pop duo ru2e, we’ll iinfiiltrate the gala and do our thiing: appropriiate genuflectiing, piiano tune2, really put on a 2how

Theres No Suspicion That We Are Anything But Performers So This Shouldnt Be Difficult

duriing our fiinal number toward2 the end of the evening, kn will dii2card her hat to 2ome lucky troll in the audiience and 2wiitch po2iitiions two atop the piiano. everythiing contiinue2 a2 before until we hit the la2t choru2, and then our plan hit2 IT’2 choru2 (hehe)

My Dress Will Have The Flyaway Element I Showed You Earlier In Which It Completely Detaches From The Bodysuit. When I Tear The Outer Dress Off It Will Cause A Distraction That Will Conceal The Knives I’ll Be Throwing Empress-Wards

whiich will cue the 2creamiing and general panic and the 2udden urge two chop our head2 off where we 2tand

At Which Point I Brandish A Couple Of Semi-Automatics And We Level The Place

techniically ju2t her bodyguard2, 2o we won’t be murdered iimediiately for attempted homiiciide. no tiime two do the whole place iin by hand

Then We Escape To The Waiting Getaway Boat Parked Out Back And Slip Into The Night

WHAT ABOUT YOUR HAT?

Glad You Asked

the bonnet ii2 riigged wiith enough explo2iives that we could 2ee the 2park2 from the hiideout’s lawnriing. we 2et it off once we’re far away enough from the gala. clean what we 2tarted.

So. Any Thoughts?

IT’S RISKY AS HELL I’LL TELL YOU THAT UP FRONT.

So Is Running A Rebellion Against The Empire

TOUCHÉ. BUT YOU DO REALIZE THIS WON’T KILL HER, RIGHT? IT’LL TAKE A LOT MORE THAN A FEW BLADES THROUGH THE BRAIN TO TAKE HER DOWN.

iit’2 an iintel mii2iion, not an a22a22iination attempt. we’re tryiing two fiigure out how long it take2 her two recover nowaday2 for future reference. iif thii2 tell2 u2 2he’2 gettiing weaker, we could u2e that to our advantage. plu2 ii’m 2ure ff could fiind some u2e for iit

AND YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T SHOW YOUR FACES IN PUBLIC ANYMORE?

We Already Cant Do That Without Masking Our Blood Hue. Mairah And Bee Becoming Fugitives Sets Us Back A Bit Sure But I Cant Fathom How Else We Could Go About This

I COULD PULL SOME STRINGS. TAVROS ISN’T AS KEEN ABOUT SENDING SERKET INTO THE FIRE AS HE WAS A PERIGEE AGO, BUT I COULD CONVINCE HIM TO SEND HER OUT IN YOUR PLACE.

ha, liike her face i2n’t already pla2tered all over Alterniia’s Mo2t Wanted

And As If You Trust Her More Than You Do Us

and 2he ha2 a tendency to go off the radar

OKAY OKAY YOU’VE MADE YOUR CASE…YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?

po2iitiive

Mhmm

AND I GET FULL OVERSEE ON THE PLANNING?

Of Course

we need your approval anyway2

…ALRIGHT. I’LL GIVE IT CLEARANCE. LET’S GET TO WORK.


	14. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Goodbye (Sollux's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux and Terezi say goodbye before he and Kanaya leave for their mission. No triggers

Despite Karkat and Terezi being on board with the plan through the whole process, they’re naturally hesitant once the day of the gala arrives. While you do your hair Terezi comes in to chat (as she always does before you and Kanaya perform), and you can hear the apprehension lacing her words.

“-checked them twice, then I had Kanaya run through them again just to be sure, and I did another check before they-”

“TZ tune it down a bit, everything’th fine.”

“I know but it doesn’t hurt to check things over.”

“Over four timeth?”

“You can miss mistakes even after four times! Actually you know what, I should do a quick once-over one more time, hang on-”

“TZ. Chill.”

“Just once more!”

“Terezi you’re getting yourthelf paranoid you need to relax.”

She pouts but remains in her seat. “I just want to make sure nothing jams on you. Weapons aren’t foolproof you know.”

“I know I know. And I appreciate it. But theriouthly take a breather.” You eye her reflection in your mirror and she sticks her tongue out at you, but it’s clearly half-hearted.

You sigh and go over, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands in yours. “We know what we’re doing. It’ll be fine.”

“Of course it will be. You’re more than competent enough for a simple intel mission.”

“Right, tho you don’t need to worry.”

She picks at the scabs littering your hands. “Who said I was worrying? That’s not the kind of accusation you can just throw around without consequences, Mr. Captor.”

“Don’t I get a free pathh?”

She smirks a bit. “The justice system has no mercy to spare for quadrants.”

You free your hands from her prying fingers and unlatch the stud in your ear, the one depicting her symbol. “I thupothe I thould pay my dueth, then,” you say, placing it in her hands. “Keep thith thafe for me?”

“I always do.” The smile falters. “Make sure you come back for it, got it?” Your pusher hurts to see the pain that flashs in her expression and confirms your theory, that she isn’t certain this time that you’ll be able to retrieve it when all is said and done.

Physical affection isn’t exactly foreign between the two of you, but she tends to get more than her fill from Karkat, and you from Aradia when she visits. You’re both comfortable with going long periods of time without even high fiving. Still, you can tell she’s grateful for the hug you wrap her in then.

You don’t snoop much but later Kanaya says in so many words that her goodbye to Karkat went more or less the same way.


	15. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Return Trip (Kanaya's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip back to the hideout. No triggers

All things considered, the finale was a complete success. Your knives hit their mark, Sollux eliminated nearly every one of the Condesce’s lackeys, and the bonnet detonated without a hitch. Everything fell into place beautifully.

With arguably the harder part of the two step operation complete, all that’s left now is to make your way back to the hideout. Your support system of three that Karkat assigned to you (safety precaution, he insisted on it) takes turns leading the way and guarding your backs.

Perhaps the only hiccup in this plan had been the route back. Although the endless expanse of desert serves as a perfect location to hide a rebellion for so many sweeps, navigating it while trying to be stealthy isn’t exactly possible. You’re completely out in the open, save for the few times you find underground tunnel systems to travel through. But as you near your destination the tunnels become scarce. You’ll have to look into that when you get back.

“How are you holding up?” you ask as you trek along, keeping your eyes trained on the sky for anything unusual.

“Never better. You?”

“Mhmm.”

“Heh. Did you thee her fathe?”

You grin. “The whole operation was worth the risk just for her expression.”

“I thhould have gotten a picture, KK and TZ would have loved to thee it.” You nod in agreement.

“Which do you want first when we get there, food or a shower?”

“Why not both? I’ll jutht eat in the trap.”

You let out a laugh. “I don’t think I would be able to stomach a soggy sandwich.”

“Eh, more for me. Maybe I’ll replathe the thoap with a thlice of-”

A scream. You think you lose consciousness for a moment because you blink and you’re suddenly on the ground. The sudden shift in perspective is disorientating and the only things you’re able to process is yelling, gunfire, and _pain_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing a 2-in-1 update because the last drabble and this one are kinda short
> 
> Next update is also a 2-in-1 but likely won't come out until the end of the week because 1) finals (and graduation hella) and 2) suspense is a fun concept to toy with >;]


	16. HIDEOUT LOCATIONS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some visuals

Don't worry the actual update will be coming up soon, but I thought I would offer a few visuals in relation to the different locations of the rebellion groups.

**The Cult Hideout**

****

\- Located in a desert area on Alternia

\- With no excessive breaks or interruptions, it's about a week's walk from the Battalion

\- The structure is entirely wooden and arranged in such a way that from the outside it appears to be an ordinary sand dune

\- Because of this, unless you have a description of what the surrounding area looks like, it's nearly impossible to find the entrance

\- The tunnel system is built underground and spans a little less than a mile in length, half a mile in width

\- The entrance is always guarded from the inside corridor, where there's a small window that the guard can look through to see who's approaching

- **Requirements for entry** : some form of identification, whether Cult or government issued; a Shackles necklace/other paraphernalia if you're already a cultist, otherwise you need to be approved by someone who is (in most cases the guard at the time will call for Nepeta for verification)

- **Requirements for joining:** must have a connection to a current cultist (a random straggler whom no one can vouch for, and therefore could pose a threat to the Cult if they were a spy, would be turned away) unless otherwise approved by Karkat

 

**The Battalion Headquarters**

\- Located in a valley on Alternia

- With no excessive breaks or interruptions, it's about a week's walk from the Cult, and 2 weeks' walk from the caverns

\- The entrance is located at the bottom of the valley, with HQ built into the land and supported by stone structures

\- Training takes place on the flat land above, as there's more space to work

\- The dip in the valley imitates a bowl, offering extra coverage when everyone needs to lay low but doesn't want to be inside

\- Aircraft production for both factions of the rebellion are done within the valley (doing so outside the Cult hideout isn't very inconspicuous)

-  **Requirements for entry:** must either be a current soldier, or accompanied by an appointed leader (excluding Tavros, Aradia, and Vriska there are about 10 of them), unless otherwise approved by Tavros **  
**

-  **Requirements for joining** : must be approved by Tavros or Aradia


	17. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Return (Terezi's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya and Sollux return after their mission. Mentions of gore/blood, Terezi is having a panic attack so watch out for that

You’re in the commons area when it happens.

In the middle of one of your discussions on the loopholes in the court system, a maroonblood approaches you and requests your presence in the corridor. You ask if it can’t wait you’re in the middle of something, but she doesn’t even finish saying, “Mother and little Psi have returned,” before you’re up and heading in their direction.

There’s a lot of noise and commotion coming from the west-most hallway near the entrance, so it’s not very hard to figure out where they are. What you’re expecting is Cult members rejoicing over their leaders’ return from a mission well done. What you get is near mutiny.

People are rushing blurs weaving in and out of your line of smell; when asked later you couldn’t name who or where every individual was. You also were unable to recall precisely when you were able to focus your attention on what everyone was freaking out about. But you would be able to remember the sinking feeling you felt when you finally did focus.

Barely being supported by a few of those blurs is Kanaya, in probably the worst shape you’ve ever seen her in. All of her pretty makeup is streaked and running. It’s blending in with the jade leaking from the gash in her forehead; you can’t tell where eyeliner starts and blood ends. Her black skin-tight body suit is ripped to shreds in some areas while the areas intact are riddled with holes. There’s a thin layer of dirt, grime, and dried blood all over her, and her typical smell, that of mint and lilacs, is viciously tainted by something rotten you can’t identify. Her breath is shaky, her few movements are strained, and overall she carries the aura of someone fresh out of a battle arena. Someone who just barely won, but at a cost.

Her blackened eye catches your useless one and you pray her price wasn’t what you think it is.

As hard as he tried though, Makara never could get you to connect with his messiahs. So it isn’t a surprise when your prayers go unanswered as Sollux is brought in from behind her, carried in unconscious. You try to identify his wounds but the overwhelming amount of blood makes it hard to concentrate. Slowly you sink to your knees as his pseudo paramedics place him down in front of you.

He has identical holes in his outfit and gashes in his forehead, slashes all along his face and arms. His lip is split, his eye is black. The overwhelming stench of mustard fills the air and you wonder how anyone can breathe in it because you certainly can’t.

You pull your boy closer and lay his head in your lap, careful not to disturb his wounds. You’re too scared to check for a pulse. No one takes the time to reassure you that yes, he’s alive, this isn’t a nightmare becoming reality it’s okay he’s safe and sound. No one tells you anything.

“T-Terezi.”

You whip your head up and lock eyes with the one person who may just put your anxiety to rest. In your mind your composure is still as firm as ever, but the way Kanaya’s face dips farther and farther into anguish tells you it’s not as steady as you think.

“I…no one had been following, I don’t know how…I’m sorry oh Signless I’m s-so sorry I couldn’t…I should have done more I…” Tears join the black and jade mess on her face as she struggles to speak and breathe. “I couldn’t p-protect him I’m so sorry Te-.” Her energy finally gives out and she collapses, her aids unable to keep her up. Face down you can make out an indent on the back of her head, and when you reach your hand under his head you feel a similar one.

It’s softer there than it should be. You feel pulsating but it’s not the heart line you need to be checking. And then all at once it clicks.

No consciousness. No reassurances. The head wound.

Kanaya speaking as if he’s…

You scream.

In that scream you let out the worst pain you’ve ever felt in your life, more pain than losing your eyesight, more pain than learning the legal system – the very center of your existence – was a sham. Someone has reached a hand inside of you and ripped your very soul from you, put it on display, and smashed it to pieces. Oh but why torture me so, you think, just kill me now. You want your corpse to join the one in your lap.

You’re not fully aware of it but you feel yourself speaking. You might be shouting for help but it’s just as likely that you’re simply babbling. Blurs from earlier are even blurrier. Something wet splashes near you and you force yourself to not assume that it’s blood. You reach out a hand blindly and find Kanaya’s, delicate and cold and nicked in the fingers. Tighten your grip on them. You won’t blame her for what happened, whatever happened. Placing blame won’t bring him back. If she’s gone too, dishonoring her name now would be a death wish for your morals.

Vaguely you hear a familiar voice, but try as you might you can’t tell who it is. Too much lilac, too much mustard, too much rotting in the air to identify anything. It’s safer to just focus on what you know, even if comforting a couple of cadavers will do nothing good for your sanity. Their souls might still be here though. Might as well comfort those.

Silently you berate yourself for every wrong you’ve committed against them in the past 24 hours. _I’m sorry I let you go, I’m sorry I didn’t set up more safety measures, I’m sorry if anything I said was too condescending, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry please if you won’t come back then take me with you don’t leave me to decay inside_.

To your horror you realize your lap is suddenly lighter; someone has taken him from you a second time today and you won’t concede to it. You try to claw at the hands lifting him away but someone else holds you back. He and Kanaya’s bodies are placed on cots, and as they’re wheeled away you yell for them to bring them back. In this moment you almost wish your eyes could work again, if only to see their faces one last time. It’d also be nice to see where it’s safe to step so you could run after them. But as it is you can’t bring yourself to do much more than curl up and just let yourself wither.

Mid-withering you sense Nepeta (when did she get here?) who tries to comfort you, you think, but none of her words are comprehensible in your current state. Bless her heart for trying, but it does you no good.

You think she says they’re alive. You’re not ready to hope.

Eventually you unlock yourself enough to become aware of what’s going on. The blurs of a crowd are gone. The floor is more or less clean but you still feel a damp stickiness on you that you’re not comfortable facing. You feel eyes on you. Karkat. Thinking back he must have been the familiar voice you heard earlier, the one giving out orders as is second nature for him. It’s a bit of a wound to your ego, honestly. Though his moirallegience with Kanaya hasn’t been for as long as yours and Sollux’s, you know he cares for her just as deeply. Yet he managed to stay focused and do what he needed to, while you were just…useless.

 _My soul_ , you beg, _find it in your still heart to forgive me_.


	18. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Return (Karkat's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya and Sollux return after their mission. Mentions of gore/blood, like the last one Karkat is also having a panic attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happens in tandem with the previous chapter

It’s Terezi’s scream that notifies you that the mission is completed and that something is very, very wrong. It’s a sound you are rarely subjected to that makes your blood run cold and some primal part of you take over. When you reach her at the end of the corridor and cannot find any teal on her, your body relaxes for all of a second.

Then you see it’s yellow and jade on her and you nearly scream yourself.

Everything is chaos as people run around trying to act all at once. Terezi sits in the middle of it all, barking orders that come out half incoherent through her choked sobbing, Sollux’s head in her lap and Kanaya’s hand in hers. People are yelling for someone to prep the infirmary, someone has spilt water everywhere, and a small group huddles in the corner crying out anguished prayers. “Watch over the Ψiionic, my Suffering,” they beg, “protect our Holy Mother!”

You know you must bring peace to the situation before it gets even more out of hand, but battling the panic attack forming at the sight of the jade pooling around your shoes is quickly becoming a losing battle.

“EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!” you screech, and all motion and chatter halts to a stop. Terezi looks up at you from the ground, only now noticing you; for your composure’s sake you avoid making contact with her eyes welled up with tears. “I want the infirmary ready and two cots out here now. Group in the corner, make yourselves useful and get some mops to clean up this mess. Someone get Nepeta I need her out here.”

As if on cue Nepeta struggles her way through the crowd and appears at your side.

“Alright what the hell is all this racket about I-” She takes one look at the scene and her mouth immediately shuts. Her eyes go to you for explanation.

“Nep. I need you to take over here.”

“Take over? What’s even going on, what happened?!”

“I don’t know but I can’t figure it out now w-we need to take care of this c-crowd and-” You’re interrupted by a few Cultists rolling makeshift gurneys into the hallway. How do they even fit with this crowd in the way and the walls moving inwards?

“Just…just take over okay? Get everyone out of here I…I need to think…did it get louder in here I t-think it got louder in here-”

“Karkat, calm down!” Nepeta reaches out with a hand and you back away like she’s on fire. The space around you is stuffy and cramped and the walls weren’t always that close to you were they? You make the mistake of diverting your eyes from the walls to the ground and you catch a glimpse of burned flesh. It’s tinted green, so much green, all of existence is green. You retch.

“Karkat!!!” You feel a hand on your cheek and it’s only the tiny sliver of sanity you have left that keeps you from slaughtering its owner. Another hand on your shoulder pushes you down to sit, and then both are gone. You close your eyes and ignore everything, ignore the crowd ignore the heat ignore the smell of something rotting, ignore Nepeta’s commands for everyone to disperse, ignore Terezi’s pained babbling, ignore the world because what’s real and what isn’t is too complicated to parse right now.

At some point you stop seeing green on the insides of your eyelids and slowly peek out at the scene you mentally left. It’s only you, Terezi, and Nepeta left, along with a couple of stragglers finishing their clean up duties. The walls have stopped their movement, your breathing is not as ragged, and the heat has returned to its regular temperature. You can’t hear much, including Nepeta’s footsteps as she comes over to kneel in front of you. She’s careful not to touch you after seeing you involuntarily flinch.

“Are you alright?” It’s the first sound you’ve full processed since your break down and it takes you a while to understand what she’s asking. You nod silently.

“Kanaya and Sollux are in the infirmary. Last report I got said they’ve suffered some bullets and knife wounds, a nurse thinks there might have been an explosion. Molotov cocktail or something.” She’s speaking slowly so as not to scare you, you can tell. But for all her efforts it’s not helping much.

You struggle to find the words you need for the question you’re petrified to ask. You can only manage to say one. “…dead?”

She smiles and shakes her head. “I’m no medical expert but the guys down the hall assured me they’ll make it. Might be laid up for a while, but they’ll make it.”

You let out a sound that can’t be classified as a word, or anything else coherent. You’re so happy you feel like you could take down _two_ empires. Reaching out you hook a few fingers with hers, and squeeze away the urge to cry with relief.

“Listen, I’m going to go check on them, and then go settle down everybody’s minds. They’re worried sick.”

You nod. Out of the corner of your eye you sense movement. Nepeta notices your eyes flicker and she frowns a bit.

“Terezi isn’t taking this well either. She locked up some time after the took them down the hall; I can’t get her to talk.” She pats your hand. “I feel your pain, I do. Not knowing your other half’s well-being, knowing you can’t do anything…it’s maddening. But please, just don’t blame yourselves for it. Don’t. It’ll shred you to bits.” Her face is hard and you catch a glimmer of pain in her words, normally hidden so well. You’ll kill to return Zahhak to her.

She stands up and flashes you a smile, masking her feelings once again. “Misery loves company,” she tells you, “if you’re both lifting the same burden you might as well lift it together.” Then she turns on her heel and heads down the corridor. Nepeta Leijon somehow became this young woman with boundless wisdom in such a short time. Maybe something good came out of her time away from her moirail after all. You instantly hate yourself a little more for having the audacity to think such a thing.

You unwrap yourself from your safety cocoon and stretch out your limbs. Everything hurts from being wound up so tight; your joints ache, your right leg is asleep. Careful not to startle her, you crawl over to Terezi and settle down next to her. She doesn’t react.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” You didn’t hope for a response but you’re glad you got one.

“Crazy stuff, huh.”

“Mhmm.”

“…they’re going to be alright.”

She shifts a bit but says nothing. Tentatively you hold your hand out and to your delight she pulls one of her own out of her curled form and puts it in yours.

“Karkat.” Her voice is quiet.

“Yeah?”

“When I…when I held him…in my lap…everything just…stopped. Completely stopped. I felt like death. Like the Handmaid was calling to me to go with her and…and I didn’t even care.” Finally she turns her head to face you and watch you blindly with scorched eyes. “If I had died right then and there, I don’t think I would have cared at all. Right now I can look back and see how stupid it was but in that moment…”

You squeeze her hand in a quiet sign of comfort. It’s not much but it seems to help as she continues.

“I’ve participated in court trials where my life was constantly in danger. I’ve taken law exams in a room full of unstable subjuggulator trainees. Working under pressure is second nature to me and yet…the second I thought I lost him, I couldn’t even think. I was useless.”

“No, you weren’t.” You reassure her. “When I got here you were still commanding everyone and trying to get things done. Most people wouldn’t have been able to do that in your situation.”

“But I still couldn’t do everything I could have.”

“You thought your moirail was dead, no one expected you to do anything but faint.”

“I’m not the fainting type.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten as far as you have if you were.” Her lips twitch a bit at that but it’s not quite the smile you wish she would make.

“How did you manage to keep calm?”

You laugh, genuinely laugh at that. “Rezi I just pulled myself out of a short mental coma. My hands are still shaking.” You hold up the hand joined with hers and sure enough you can’t keep it steady. “Call what I did anything you want but calm doesn’t fit.”

“You still managed to shift control over to Nepeta.”

“And you managed to alert me on what was happening.”

“Are we trying to one up each other for who was shittier under pressure?”

You smirk. “Had to find something to bicker about.”

“…Karkat?”

“Yeah?”

“I feel like crying again.”

“When’s the last time you actually cried? Not counting earlier obviously.”

She shrugs. “When I first got here I guess.” Your sense of time isn’t as great as it used to be but by your memory that was more than a quarter of a sweep ago.

You let go of her hand and hold your arms out in invitation. Immediately she accepts it, and the second you have your arms around her she bursts into tears and buries her faces in your shirt. There’s only a few situations where Terezi will openly break down in front of you; you suppose you just found a new one.

You slowly rocker her as you whisper comforting words in her ear and she chokes out her worries into yours. “Everything will be okay.” “What if it’s not?” “Stay positive.” “I can’t lose him.” “You won’t.” “I can’t lose her either.” “…neither can I.” “I’m scared. “I know. Me too.”

At some point you start crying too and you both just sit there, rocking and sobbing and miserable, scared to hope for the best but terrified of the alternative. The threat of losing your moirails is a heavy burden on the pusher. Ordinarily you’d be in a pile letting out your grievances, but with your feelings jam partners out of commission, your other red quadrant makes the best alternative.

She manages to stop crying before you can and she rocks you just like you did for her. When you manage to calm back down she pecks you softly everything feels much less hectic and a lot more normal – as normal as your lives usually are. The possibility of losing your beloved and one of your best friends still looms over you, but somehow you think you’ll make it through this. It’s just the same as the rebellion: you’ve gotta have a little faith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter marks the end of the drabbles I already had pre-written. Anything posted after this is being newly written, therefore there's no guarantee of how often and how much will be posted after this point. Which isn't meant to discourage you or anything, I do have at least another 13 chapters outlined (which yes, you can consider them chapters after this arc and the filler drabble after it are done, because it starts to enter the climax of the story)


	19. The Finale of Mairah and Bee - Recovery (Sollux's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux and Kanaya during their fifth day of recovery. No triggers

You think this is your second night conscious. Maybe the third. The days and nights blend together seamlessly in here. Though you ask nurses what time it is whenever you see them, you forget their answers five minutes later. Or, maybe an hour later. You can’t tell.

Whenever you wake up, they say you’ve been out for a moment, a day, a perigee. Something like that. You don’t think you’re conscious for very long spans of time because you don’t seem to get much done. Most times they make you eat. Sometimes they make you read. Other times they’ll just make you talk to them. They ask you questions you don’t know the answers to. Something about a bomb. You don’t see why they ask you about that; weapons are Kanaya’s department.

They do ask her that too, when she’s awake. Mostly she’s asleep when you’re up, so you guess she’s up when you’re asleep. Sometimes you’re both up at the same time and you’ll talk. Your conversations are nothing extensive; she seems as out of it as you feel, and her speech reflects that.  You don’t think you sound very eloquent either.

“How long we been here?”

“Don’t know. How’d we get here?”

“Don’t know.”

“You in pain too?”

“Yeah. Everywhere.”

“Thame.”

They won’t let you go anywhere, save for when they carry you to the gaper. You’re alright with that, you guess. You’d like to get out of this room and go back to work; but then again, you think walking would probably hurt right now.

You ask about Terezi. You ask about Karkat, and Nepeta, and the rest of the Cult. You don’t remember their answers to those questions, either.

“Sollux.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry.”

“Why?”

“Remembered something. Gunfire. And a…pipe?…you got hit. Sorry I didn’t block it.”

“Th’okay. You got hit too, thorry.”

“S’okay.”

“…how long thince then?”

“Don’t know.”

“Five nights,” a nurse taking notes tells you.

“Five?”

“Mhmm. In fact, we think you’re far along enough that we could let the others visit. Would you two like some visitors?”

You both perk up at that. You make the mistake of nodding and the room starts spinning. The nurse gets the hint and leaves.

“Think they’re doing okay?”

“Better than uth.”

She winces through her giggles at that.

“-stable but they’re still weak. Go slow,” the nurse is saying as he returns with your visitors. You haven’t learned your lesson and sit up too fast when you see them.

“Tere-OW! FUCK!” Pain shoots through your arm before you can get your greeting out.

“Hey, relax! There’s an IV, stupid,” she tells you, pushing you back. “I’m glad to see you too but be careful.”

You huff. “Fine.”

“How are you feeling? Besides your arm I mean.”

“Okay I guethth. Theven of ten.”

“Have they been treating you right down here?” You feel her fingers lace with yours. There’s new nicks in them, you note.

“Can’t go anywhere.”

“You’re not strong enough for therapy yet.”

“Tho?”

“So you can’t leave.”

“Thayth who?”

“Says me.”

“Well fuck you.”

She smirks. “Fuck you too.” You smile back and her face softens. “I missed that smile.”

“I miththed yours.”

“Hey Sol. Do you remember anything? From the night of the gala?”

You think hard to try to come up with something new, but all you can tell her is what you always tell the nurses. “Thmoke and pain.”

As you talk for a bit more, her expression wobbles between sympathy and distress. It’s frustrating, but you don’t know what to say to comfort her. The words “what’s wrong?” get trapped in your throat and you forget them before they make it to your mouth. Eventually she switches out with Karkat to go say hello to Kanaya. As he takes her place you notice remnants of tears in his eyes.

“You’re alwayth crying. Geeze.”

“Shut up Captor. How’s it going?”

“Eh. You?”

“Also eh. The both of you look like a complete wreck.”

“Could thay the same about you guyth.”

He sighs. “It’s been rough with you two out of commission.”

“A week behind weapon and aircraft production ain’t bad.”

“That’s not what I meant.” He runs a hand over his face and lets it settle in his mop of hair. You swear the circles under his eyes are getting darker. “Nepeta’s been working overtime to keep us in line but I still feel like shit.”

“You thleep lately?”

“Like I have the time to.”

“Get out of here and thleep, idiot.”

“Funny, Kan just told me the same thing.”

“Thee?”

He sighs again. “The second either of you starts remembering more of what happened, call us down here. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

Karkat’s eyes sweep over you, wincing when they pass over bloodied bandages.

“You’re looking at me the way thhe did.”

“Who? Kan?”

“No, TZ. It’th creeping me out.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Yeah you are.”

“What, then?”

You don’t know how to put it into words. By the time he and Terezi kiss the two of you goodbye for the night, you’ve made no progress.

“KN.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you thee what I thaw?”

“That look in their eyes?”

“Yeah. What wath that?”

“Don’t know. Didn’t like it though.”

“Yeah.”

A nurse comes by to let you know you should probably be getting some sleep. Before she leaves you call her back for a question.

“How long we been here?”

\--

“Short term memory loss,” the nurse tells you. “Nothing serious. The trauma to their heads just shook them up a bit. Don’t be surprised if they ask questions that you answered a few minutes earlier.”

“It’s temporary, right?” Terezi’s grip on your pinky tightens.

“Absolutely. Once they fully recover they’ll be back to normal.”

You ask if there’s anything you can do for them in the meantime.

“Visit often, though I have no doubt you’ll do that regardless. Just gently remind them whenever they forget something. Don’t worry. They’ll open up about the ambush when their minds are ready.”

\--

**END OF 'THE FINALE OF MAIRAH VIRNIG AND BEE-AMAZED' ARC**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last bit there is Karkat's POV, which is something I don't write often. Not out of difficulty with characterizing him, but because his thoughts, although important, don't need the amount of exposition that everyone else's does right now
> 
> The Finale of Mairah Virnig and Bee-Amazed arc ends with this drabble. The ambush that the two have difficulty remembering isn't plot critical and so it's safe to move on from here, but I'll touch on it later on in passing.


	20. Kanaya Getting Tattooed (Aradia's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aradia tattoos Battalion wings on Kanaya. Mentions of needles, other than that no triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get a bonus treat of art work with this drabble, lucky you

“You’re doing great, see? One wing down already!” you offer as encouragement as Kanaya grits her teeth. “Not much longer now.”

“I signed up for fairy wings, right? You’re not drawing a Troll Picasso instead?” she huffs out.

“You’re overestimating my skills a bit there.”

“Am I really though? I saw your latest work. In the new world perhaps you could do this professionally.”

“Heh, thanks. I’ve considered it,” you tell her, wiping off your needle. “But if I’m needed elsewhere maybe I’ll just keep it going as a side hobby.”

Prior to your conscription you never even thought about tattooing others. After seeing ancient hieroglyphics in the caves you frequented, you threw around the idea of getting a few yourself, but it never really worked out. You were sent off planet before you could get your hands on any equipment, let alone gain an understanding of how it worked. In the barracks you met plenty of fellow cavalreapers who had had more luck than you. The symbols they sported on their arms and legs fascinated you, and some were happy to explain their meanings to you. You were mesmerized.

And so, during your down time, you took up the trade again. You traded cigarettes for needles and bread rations for ink. You didn’t trust yourself to work on your own skin and keep a steady hand. No one was very keen on having you practice on them, either. But they also thought it was pretty morbid when you started using severed limbs in the training room as models (the argument that their owners probably wouldn’t mind still didn’t sit well with them).

By the time Tavros had finalized the escape plans, you had tattooed as many as 50 arms and 27 legs, as well as two torsos that you were almost sad to leave behind. You had also successfully done your first artwork on live flesh. Turned out to be your own.

Down time after that diminished quite a bit. Co-leading an army took a lot of energy and mental strength, so much so that it was a solid perigee before you broke out your equipment again. This time around though, people knew how much progress you had made, and were a little more willing to get work done by you. Around this time, Tavros suggested there be some sort of symbol assigned to the army, to make it easier to identify one another. He immediately shot down his own symbolheight as an idea. Wings, however, that was a suggestion he could get behind (ha, get it, because his wings are behind him).

“Now I understand where Sollux gets the pun influence from,” Kanaya interrupts your thoughts. You didn’t even realize you were speaking aloud. You say so and she laughs.

“So how much work do you have on yourself?”

“It’s hard to see from your angle,” – with her back facing you there’s not much of you she can see – “but I’m up to eight now. I don’t really count my tag number though. Didn’t do that one myself.”

“Have you thought about getting a pair of wings?”

“Sometimes. But as much as I trust the soldiers I’m not sure if I’m willing to let them take a needle to my back. Tavros notwithstanding.” You don’t mention that although you’d freely let him do it, Tavros is squeamish about you getting tattoos at all. He likes your ink but he knows firsthand that they’re painful and he’s still uncomfortable whenever you express any sign of discomfort. The mark that the Charge/Scourge fiasco left on the two of you wasn’t just physical.

You switch out your gold ink with white and she winces when needle pierces skin again. “Is it a safe assumption that his arm is your handiwork?”

“A very safe assumption! He laid out some ideas he has for a half sleeve, would you believe it? Had no idea he’d be up for that sort of thing.”

“Another victim falls to your tattoo apocalypse, hmm?”

“Oh definitely. You see that group practicing over there?” You point in the distance to some soldiers currently working on animal communing. “Knock out the one with the red hair streak and the girl holding the hopbeast. All the others have had work done.”

“Wow, there’s at least thirty of them.”

“Show me any group of thirty and I’ve gotten to a majority of them. I mean, granted, most of them are just wings.”

Kanaya turns her head to catch your eye. “All of paradox space will have fallen by the time you’re finished with it.”

“As it should be, Kanaya,” you reply, resuming your work. “As it should be.”

\--

I'm a visual person and some of you guys probably are too so I offer you a couple of sketches to help you with this drabble

**~~ARADIA~~**

The scars over her eyes are something I was gonna bring up at a different time but now I'm not sure if/when I will so I'll explain here, it's an injury from the Scourge/Charge debacle, although she survived her encounter with mind honey-ed Sollux she came out of it with some battle scars and the ones on her face never seemed to heal

**_RIGHT SIDE_ ** _(most of her tattoos end up on this side, because she's left handed)_

  * UPPER ARM: Aries symbol through a cog - her astrological symbol and a callback to her status as a Time player
  * LOWER ARM: crescent moon w/ arrows - a satanic symbol used in human and animal sacrifices, reminiscent of her connection to death
  * OVERALL: arrow - the only one on her with no significance
  * UPPER LEG: curly thing - symbol meaning 'to begin anew', her first self-done tattoo, foreshadows a new beginning as she left the Empire to co-run the Battalion
  * LOWER LEG: leaf-like pattern - matches the pattern on the Handmaid's dress



**_LEFT SIDE_ **

  * LOWER ARM: 10011 - her tag number when she was part of the cavalreapers; only one on her that she didn't do herself



**_OTHER_ **

  * STOMACH: Taurus symbol - for her moirallegience with Tavros
  * LEFT WRIST: Shackles symbol - done after the Cult and the Battalion's alliance



 

**~~TAVROS~~**

Tav has Alternian lettering on him (which is read right to left); I wrote the English equivalent below them

_**RIGHT SIDE** _

  * UPPER ARM:  'Rufio' lettering - doesn't really need an explanation; the tattoo Kanaya alludes to in the drabble



_**LEFT SIDE** _

  * UPPER ARM: compass with Aries symbol denoting north - the Aries symbol (and the diamond at the center) is for his moirallegience with Aradia; the half sleeve Aradia mentions in the drabble, which he doesn't get done until a while after they take Terezi in
  * LOWER ARM: 10210 - his tag number when he was a part of the cavalreapers; only one on him not done by Aradia



_**OTHER** _

  * CHEST: Shackles symbol - mentioned in The Alliance drabble
  * KNUCKLES: 'Lost Boys' lettering - _Peter Pan_  allusion



-

Excluding those who opted for different paraphernalia, Aradia and Tavros are the only Battalion members who don't have the wings tattoo (Aradia's reasoning is in the drabble, Tavros because he already has wings)


	21. Op:Ab Communication 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone finally gets access to the Cult's server. No triggers

canteringTechnician [CT] began trolling arsenicCatnip  [AC]

HOLD RIGHT THE FUCK UP.

…

…

SERVER SCAN COMPLETE. BASED ON A NUMBER OF ALGORITHMS THAT YOU HAVE NO GRASP OF AND NEVER WILL, YOUR SERVER AND TECHNICAL DEVICE(S) HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO BE **CLEAN** OF ANY POSSIBLE **BUGS** , **TRACKING PROGRAMS** , **VIRUSES** , OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT WOULD GET YOUR ASS SENT PACKING. YOU WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED FOR SUCH BULLSHIT DURING YOUR COMMUNICATION.

IF YOU ATTEMPT TO RUN ANY OF THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED BULLSHIT **WE WILL FIND YOU**.

**CONNECTION STRENGTH:** WEAKER THAN A NEWLY HATCHED GRUB

**SERVER NAME:** Fishy_Business

**PAST INTERACTIONS:** 0

**_arsenicCatnip_ ** _, DO YOU ACCEPT THE COMMUNICATION?_

>yes

_CONNECTION HAS BEEN APPROVED._

CT: D --> I am pleased that your server seems to be more useful than whatever the Battalion managed to program 

CT: D --> Although I suppose Captor always did have the upper hand in such matters

CT: D --> Perhaps he could reprogram theirs when he is not preoccupied by other things, which probably isn’t often

CT: D --> I’ve udderly derailed from where I was going with this

CT: D --> Hi

AC: :00 < holy fuck

CT: D --> Nepeta I may be hypocritical for saying so but that isn’t e%actly the most appropriate greeting

AC: :33 < shhhhhhhhhut up dont ruin the moment

AC: :33 < actually no, keep talking

AC: :33 < how are you is everything alright?? are you getting enough to eat whens the last time you had fresh milk???

CT: D --> Everything is sufficient under the circumstances for the moment. Not ideal, but sufficient. And you? Is Vantas keeping you out of harm’s way?

AC: :33 < yes yes of course karkats doing a wonderful job with what hes got

AC: :33 < where are you guys?

CT: D --> I can’t say, both because even the securest of servers are still a risk

CT: D --> And because I haven’t the slightest idea

AC: :33 < is ‘the middle of paradox space’ a solid guess?

CT: D --> An acceptable guess, yes

AC: :33 < i figured as much

AC: :33 < howd you get through to our server anyway? tavros?

CT: D --> Yes he mentioned the Cult’s server name in a previous communication we had with him

CT: D --> I volunteered to test its authenticity

CT: D --> For rather selfish reasons, but reasons nonetheless

AC: :33 < ?

CT: D --> I wanted to talk to you

CT: D --> Actually talk to you, not this f001ish passing along messages business we’ve been doing

CT: D --> I miss you

AC: :33 < i miss you too, so so much

CT: D --> Are you sure that you’re faring alright?

AC: :33 < yeah everythings fine, like i had eridan tell you im doing pretty okay

AC: :33 < its no walk in the park but for being one of the higher ups in a rebellion im getting along alright

CT: D --> I’m still convinced that something or someone is bothering you

AC: :33 < whys that?

CT: D --> You just passed on the opportunity to use ‘purrity’ instead of ‘pretty’

CT: D --> In fact there’s an e%treme lack of cat puns in anything you’ve said so far

AC: X(( < furrick

CT: D --> Nice try

CT: D --> Now tell me what’s bothering you

AC: :33 < alright fine

AC: :33 < i have a question for you and what your answer will be is whats been bothering me

CT: D --> What’s the question?

AC: :// < are we still moirails?

CT: D --> Nepeta of course we are why would you ever doubt that?

AC: :33 < well its just that we cant exactly k33p up with each other lately due to the whole distance thing

AC: :33 < and im sure youre around plenty of trolls that could pacify you in a pusherbeat, probably better than i can

AC: :33 < so my doubt isnt really unwarranted :((

CT: D --> You need to drop this line of thinking immediately

CT: D --> Nepeta I have felt so deeply pale for you longer than I can remember and no amount of space between us physically is going to change that

CT: D --> This arrangement is difficult on us both but I would die before I even thought of betraying you like that

CT: D --> I have no intention of breaking up with you any time soon, Miss Leijon

AC: :33 < …

AC: :33 < purromise?

CT: D --> Promise

AC: :33 < okay, i believe you

CT: D --<>

AC: :33 <>

CT: D --> Are you alright now? Was this the only thing bothering you, or was there anything else?

AC: :33 < nah that was the only thing

AC: :(( < im sorry fur not having more faith in us

CT: D --> That’s quite alright

CT: D --> As 100dicrous of an assumption as it was, it’s understandable

AC: :33 < pff

CT: D --> ?

AC: :33 < i cant believe you still do the 100 thing for ‘loo’ sounds

AC: :33 < what a dork

CT: D --> I am no dork

AC: :33 < you most certainly are!

CT: D --> No I’m not

AC: :33 < yes you are

CT: D --> No

AC: :33 < yes

CT: D --> No

AC: :33 < yesss

CT: D --> Nepeta, no

AC: :33 < equius, yesssss

CT: D --> Stop

AC: :33 < nopeeeeeee

CT: D --> Stop at once

AC: :33 < im 9 and i do what i want

CT: D --> I’m 9 and 1/3 and you’ll do as you’re told

AC: :33 < bs we both know im older

CT: D --> Fiddlesticks

CT: D --> I had hoped you had forgotten that

AC: :33 < k33p dreaming, sweatquius ;33

AC: :33 < speaking of which, whats the towel situation by you like

CT: D --> Disturbingly scarce

CT: D --> In fact I have a particular story regarding that very topic

AC: :33 < fire away!!!

\--

“You’re kidding me.”

You usher him slowly over to Nepeta’s quarters and brush aside the drapery she uses as a door as quietly as possible. Curled up in a pile of pillows is the girl herself, passed out and sleeping soundly.

“Told you,” you whisper, grinning.

Karkat gapes. “She’s actually smiling in her sleep. How is that a thing? She barely sleeps at all most days.” After a moment he tugs you away and the two of you head for your own quarters.

“Something’s up,” you say. “I caught a whiff of her earlier, in the commons area. Happiest she’s seemed since I got here. And not that bullshit happy she pulls all the time.”

He nods, and you can tell from his expression that you’re not the only one who doesn’t buy her act. “The only time she goes on genuine happy streaks is when Tavros relays messages from Equius to her. But we haven’t gotten word from him for weeks now, right?” He furrows his brow in thought. “I wonder what’s going on.”

You shrug. “Beats me. But if it’s making her happy, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit late because 1) like I said before, everything from now on isn't prewritten so it's going to take me some time to write it all, and 2) I was away from wifi for 2 weeks so I couldn't upload anything
> 
> Also I'll be away from wifi for another week starting soon. July isn't the opportune time for updates here
> 
> But after that!!! I'll hopefully have wifi more regularly at my disposal so sit tight


	22. That's Not Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you try turning it off and on? No triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't updated in a while whoops this doesn't even count as a full chapter but fear not! Because the next one coming up sometime today/tomorrow is a goddamn doozy in length. I'm not done writing it yet and it's already 9 pages long in Word so sit tight

“Hey Sol, our server is down.”

“What?”

“The server, I can’t connect to it. Did you turn it off?”

“No, why would I turn it off?”

“How should I know?”

“Did you try turning your device off and on again?”

“Wow no I hadn’t thought of that. Yes I fucking turned it off and on again, I’m not _that_ incompetent.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Fuck you. So what’s up with it?”

“Give me like two thecondth to actually open my huthktop, geeze. ...tthit.”

“What?”

“The whole thythtem’th down.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“When did you notice it?”

“Just now. But I haven’t used anything connected to the server since yesterday. I guess it went down then?”

“I didn’t authorize thith. I’m the only one with accethh to the inner workingth of the therver. What giveth?”

“Beats me. Did you try turning it off and on again?”

“Fuck off and let me work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe try putting the server in a bag of rice?"
> 
> "Vantath I thwear to Thignlethh..."
> 
> "Don't give me wiggler-level tech fixes if you don't want them thrown back at you."


	23. Battalion Overrun - Initial Discovery (Vriska's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battalion learns some startling news. No triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts the Battalion Overrun Arc, which runs 3 chapters. Similar to the Mairah and Bee arc, all 3 chapters occur linearly, and therefore needs to be read in the order that they're posted. Unlike the Mairah and Bee arc, which spanned over a few weeks within the story line, this one spans over 3 days

“We’re fucked.”

Megido interrupts what was sure to be another heated make out session (you were _this close_ to convincing him to take a break from planning weaponry tactics), rushing into the room with her hair wild and face flushed.

“We’ve been fucked since we hatched, you’ll have to be more specific,” you tell her bitterly. You put your feet up and balance your chair on its back legs. “What, did somebody take extra rations again?”

“If it’s a food shortage issue,” Tavros pushes your feet off the desk and you scoff, “we’ll just bump down another meal for a while.”

“No, it’s not-”

“ _Another_ meal? We haven’t eaten lunch in weeks. If you think anybody’s gonna agree to that, let alone me-”

“It’s not the fucking food!”

“Get on with it then, what’s the damn problem?” you spit.

“Our location’s been compromised.”

Dead silence.

Then:

“ _What._ ”

“How?!”

“You’re shitting me!!!”

“A are you sure?”

She grabs Tavros’s laptop from a shelf and furiously types, so fast you think she might break the keys. When she’s done she whips it around to show the two of you the screen. Trollian is up, with a conversation with Op:Ab opened. It looks fairly new; you don’t think you’ve read this one before. You scan through it quickly:

CA: she definitely has your fuckin coordinates, wwe’vve been listenin in on her communications wwith her fleet and she’s been talkin about tavv for days, and then suddenly they made a beeline for alternia

AA: y0u’re screwing with me h0w c0uld she get her hands 0n 0ur c00rdinates

CA: I don’t fuckin knoww howw she got them do I look like a damn detectivve? wwe just knoww she’s headin in your direction

CA: and if kar is as close to you guys as you say I’d warn him if I wwere you, wwe’vve been tryin to reach them for an hour now but wwe can’t get through to them

AA: well what are we supp0sed t0 d0 n0w?!

CA: hmm I don’t knoww, maybe ABANDON HEADQUARTERS???

AA: n0 shit eridan

CA: no shit is right

CA: just get out of there asap okay go hide out in the desert or somethin wwe can’t interfere wwithout givvin up our location you gotta do this yourselvves

AA: d0 we even have a time estimate 0r are we g0ing blind 0n this?

CA: from this moment you havve like

CA: three days at best?

AA: shit

AA: shit shit shit that’s n0t en0ugh time

CA: then GO stop wastin it here

“We need to get out of here _now_ ,” she urges as you finish reading. “Even if we have three full days that’s nowhere near enough time to organize a decent retreat.”

You bang your fist on the desk in frustration. “Somebody tipped them off. Somebody in this army’s in cahoots with the Empire and feeding them intel. _Damn_ it! I want that fucker hung for this!”

Tavros puts a hand over your clenched fist. “Even if it’s true, we don’t have time for a trial right now. We need to get out of here. There’ll be plenty of time to weed out any spies later.”

“And what if there’s not?” You snatch your hand back. “You wanna organize a full movement and give them the chance to make a move on us? We’ll be running and one of our own could shoot you in the back. Then what? The Battalion goes up in flames.”

“We have literally hundreds of soldiers, Vriska. It’d be a waste of valuable time to interrogate all of them when we could be saving their lives.”

“She has a point, though,” says Aradia. “If somebody double crossed us, now’s the perfect time to pull something. Your life is at risk.”

“All of our lives are at risk. I’d rather save as many of us as I can, even if I can’t preserve mine.”

“Fine, let’s say we didn’t do our investigation until later. How do you propose we move everything without letting anybody get the drop on us?” You’re itching to hear a better solution because, although you know time isn’t on your side, eliminating any form of espionage in the ranks is critical if this rebellion is going to stay unified. You wouldn’t stand for this if you were in charge.

He gets up and paces around the room for a moment, deep in thought. You start getting restless at how much time he’s taking; Aradia, pulling at the fringe of her shawl, doesn’t look any better.

Finally, he speaks. “We won’t move everything at once.”

“Yeah because sending out one soldier at a time is time efficient,” you say, rolling your eye.

“Not one. A group. Lots of them, like thirty in each of them. If we leave as small units rather than en masse, we’ll get out faster and have less of a chance to be detected.”

“How will they stay organized?” Aradia asks. “We can’t lead them out then come back, there’s no time.”

“We have around ten leaders we’ve been training. We could assign one to each group, have them keep everybody under control. It’s like when we went to the Cult hideout for the alliance ceremony. We broke in half to travel, and even back then there was what, less than a hundred of us?”

“If there’s thirty a group and ten leaders,” you think out loud, “that’s three hundred. If the last census still applies we’re roughly eighty short.”

“We’ll each take a group ourselves,” suggests Aradia. “Somebody will take a smaller one with them to the Cult and let them know what’s going on. The other two can take the rest; it’ll be more than thirty each but we can manage that.”

“Breaking everybody up will make it easier to keep an eye on them,” you admit. “What about the supplies?

“Everybody carries whatever they can.” Tavros grabs a clipboard and starts scribbling. “The aircrafts will have to stay here, we can’t risk being shot down from the skies. I’ll gather some wildlife to help carry the heavier cargo.”

Aradia hums. “It’s feasible. I think it’s probably our best shot at this point.”

It’s not like you have any better plans to work with; all of the Battalion’s escape plans would take four days at minimum to carry out. “Alright, I’m game. Gotta admit Nitram, that’s a pretty smooth solution you came up with. Not perfect, but pretty smooth.”

“Thanks.” He’s still focused on his writing but you see him start to smile. “Actually, it was a tactic I heard people used in Fiduspawn. I never used it myself but I had plans to,” he adds sheepishly.

“We’re using a Fiduspawn tactic to try to move a group of actual soldiers?” You put a hand over your face. “I take back what I said about you being smooth. We’re fucked.”


	24. Battalion Overrun - Preparation (Aradia and Tavros' POVs)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days leading up to and including the Battalion's evacuation. Mentions of Vriska and Tavros's abusive relationship (shit's not healthy let's be real here), mentions of depressive and suicidal thoughts, and implied frick frack are all possible triggers here

Two hours later, everyone is rushing around in a semi-organized chaos, throwing things into boxes, sorting out what absolutely can’t be left behind, and trying to talk to their group leaders (who are being bombarded by thirty people each while trying to work themselves). Headquarters has become a madhouse and you hate to admit that you’re reveling in it.

Although the situation is tense and stressful, the high amount of energy is feeding into your own energy storage. You’ve must have sprinted from one end of the hideout to the other at least three times already and you don’t feel tired at all. You might crash later, but right now you’re comfortable.

“Aradia!” calls a soldier holding a crate of apples, approaching you. “Where do you want these?”

“Do the other groups already have their shares?” She nods. “Then whatever’s left is for our group. Put it with the rest of our rations.” Before leaving she starts to bow but straightens up quickly, laughing it off. Bowing to superiors is a sign of respect among you (though Tavros insists that everyone treat each other as equals) so it’s hard for the soldiers to remember that you’re in a hurry here, bowing isn’t necessary.

The news that the Battalion was going to be overrun was received with horrified faces and a few tears. It took him a while, but Tavros eventually settled everyone down, stressing that time is a huge factor and escaping is still possible if everyone works together. Everyone highly respects him as a leader, as they should, and got to work right away at his command. You’re running right on schedule. At this rate, you’ll be able to send off the first group in a few hours, and the rest systematically out after them.

You, Vriska, and Tavros and your respective groups will be the last to abandon the base. Who will go to warn the Cult of the compromise hasn’t been decided yet, but you’re not dumb: it’s going to be either you or Vriska, and the other will likely merge with Tavros’s group as a safety precaution. None of you have voiced this but it’s mutually understood as fact.

On the one hand, you want to stay with Tavros. At a younger age you would have argued that you feel obligated as his moirail to keep on top of him. And while that’s still true, there’s also still a nagging hesitance in the back of your pan to separate him from Vriska. You trust her now. She’s proven herself deserving of your trust over the last perigee, and when she and Tavros flip red you see her genuinely kinder side that she rarely shows. But scenes from sweeps back are still burned into your memory, and when they flip black she spits with such venom that you know it opens old wounds and sends him spiraling into his old self-deprecating mindset. To leave her co-leading the last groups with him, even if they keep on their red streak, seems like asking for trouble that you’re admittedly afraid to risk. You wouldn’t go as far as to think she’s responsible for the coordinate leak, but you’re still uneasy. Having her at the Cult for some time would be the smarter solution (weren’t you going to cast her out there on day one?).

On the other hand, you want to be the one to go to the Cult. All of the groups are being sent in different angles from the base with the intent of reconvening in the forests at Alternia’s northernmost pole, the closest landmark everyone is familiar with at a little less than week’s walk away. The Cult, out in the desert, is in the opposite direction, also about week’s walk away, meaning you would have to travel a week to the Cult only to do a 180 to travel for another two weeks. It’s a long time to be away from Tavros, not to mention your Battalion family, but you’re good at navigating different terrain and could probably get to the Cult and back faster than most people could. Plus, you could let Kanaya know specifically what weaponry still needs to be brought along. Though her history doesn’t do her much good, Vriska has worked ridiculously hard to move past it, and if there’s any soldier you can trust to get things done efficiently, it’s her. It’d be a waste to send her to the Cult when her assets could be used more productively.

You’re torn on which path to take. Tavros tells everyone to nap an hour before the first group is set to leave (to make up for the lack of lunch that they could really use), and you use the time to think the situation over.

In the end you choose the path that you think is the most responsible.

\--

“I’m seriously gonna hang whoever ratted us out,” she growls into your shoulder. “With rusted chain links. Rope’s too elementary.”

“You can go on your manhunt but the ‘kill my soldiers I kill you’ rule is still in effect here.”

She whines. “Come oooooooon. This guy’s risking the entire Battalion here, we can’t let them live. Besides, I thought you trusted me again?”

Your brow furrows. “‘Again’?”

“Rude.”

“’Forgive and forget’ isn’t a creed I’ve lived by for sweeps, Serket.”

“Good. It was a stupid one anyway.” She traces figure eights with her nail into your cheek. “But I’d think by now you could at least let us move past everything.”

“I was trying to. Then you showed up here.”

She’s silent. Her nail digs in when the eight loops near the corner crease of your mouth.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I’ve let my guard down around you more times than I probably should have since you’ve been here.”

“But…?”

“But you still put me on edge,” you admit. “You make me wonder sometimes if I was right to listen to Aradia and let you back into my life.”

She sighs. “It was inevitable we’d cross paths again. You feel it, don’t you? Some force that keeps drawing us together. The, the…” a vague wave of her hand, “the magnetism. It’s been with us since we were young.” She pauses. “I tried so many times back then to leave you alone. Being around you made me want to do bad things. And I hated it, because I was sick of fucking you over. But I couldn’t stay away.”

“You better not be blaming me for why you abused me right now,” you spit. You feel anger getting ready to boil up in your chest.

“No, no I’m not, it’s not like that. It’s…I don’t know, I don’t understand it. It’s my fault what happened, I admit that. You didn’t do anything to deserve it. But I feel like there was something pushing me to do everything I did. I still feel it sometimes. I just don’t act on it like I used to.”

“…I kind of understand.”

“You do?”

“That magnetism feeling. Back then I just kept coming back to you but I absolutely hated being around you. You saw how opposed I was to you joining us.”

“That’s why I’m still around, then. You feel forced to stay around me.” You pick up on a hint of bitter sadness in her words.

“Yes and no. You’re still around because you’ve earned the right to be here. You’ve proven to Aradia and I that you’re a better person, and that you genuinely want to help.” You pause a beat. “Also because I started feeling red for you again. And I can tell it’s reciprocated.”

“‘Again’?”

“On our good days back then you think I honestly hadn’t thought about it?”

You feel her smirk into your shoulder. “Knew it.”

“Like hell you did.”

For a moment she’s silent and you just listen to her breathe. “I’m sorry about our bad days. The old ones, and the ones we still have sometimes. I’m gonna keep trying to not make them happen.”

You rustle her hair. “I know.” As an afterthought you sweep it over her face and you laugh when she sputters as some lands in her mouth.

“ _Rude_!” she laughs out.

You push some of it aside and peck her lips. “We should get moving.”

“It’s only been like a half hour!”

“We’ve been talking for half an hour,” you correct her. “Come on, grab your clothes. We’ve gotta get back to work.”

\--

It’s been a little over two days since you spoke to Eridan, and you’ve just sent off the last soldier leader-led group for the forests. Everyone is enormously relieved that you did in around 50 hours what you feared would take 96 at minimum. Granted, the aircrafts and larger equipment will be left behind, as well as odds and ends that were deemed to be nonessential, but for the time limit you had to work with you got a lot accomplished.

The remaining soldiers are finishing up odds and ends and saying goodbye to each other. You, Vriska, and Tavros are all packed up and ready to move the moment that everything is done. With an hour between the Cult group heading out and Tavros’s group heading out, it should offer enough time for the two factions to leave headquarters without being detected as one large group.

You told Tavros your decision after the break on the first day. He’s asked you multiple times since then if you’re sure, saying he’s not trying to dissuade you, just to let you know that your options are still open. You still don’t know if this is the right decision, or the choice you actually want for yourself, but wasting more time that you don’t have trying to reason with yourself in the other direction isn’t an option here.

When the soldiers in the Cult group confirm that they’re finished preparing and are ready to go, you pull Tavros aside from his work to let him know.

“My group’s done. If we’re going to stay on schedule, I need to leave with them now.”

“Alright. You’ve got the coordinates down?”

“Got ‘em.”

“If you keep on our timeline, you should be back here in a couple of weeks. Circle around the base and keep your eyes open. Let us know when you get to us what the damage is.”

“You know we can’t come back here. Even if they don’t fill in the valley it’s not safe to stick around.”

“Yeah. I know.” It hurts to see how dejected he is about losing this place. When you made it back to Alternia and found the valley, it seemed like the perfect spot to settle down the Battalion. And it is: the coverage and space this place offers is almost too good to be true. You haven’t had any detection issues, no espionage scares, nothing to make you want to leave.

“We’ll find another home,” you tell him. “This valley isn’t the only viable place for us. Who knows, maybe the forests could become our new base.”

“Maybe. You sure you’re ready for the move?”

You nod. “Make sure you take care of yourself, okay? I know you want to protect everyone, but remember that you’re worth saving, too.”

He silently looks at you for a bit, then asks, “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course you can.”

“When I was younger, I didn’t think I’d amount to much of anything. I was afraid of dying because I hadn’t gotten to be useful to people yet, but I honestly wondered if it’d be such a bad thing. They say it’s an adventure, and life was scary to me, so why not go for it? I ended up choosing life, obviously, but it was a stubborn decision.” He must have noticed the frown you started sporting, because he runs a thumb by the corner of your mouth, pushing it upwards. “Now, though? Death doesn’t bother me anymore. Because if I die, it’ll be defending people so they get that chance to make the decision themselves.” He smiles. “I’m worth something.”

“You’ve always been worth something.” You smile back warmly, and lean up, kissing his cheek. “Just please, don’t be reckless. I don’t want that to be your big ‘marching off to my death’ speech.”

“I won’t be reckless, I promise. I don’t have plans to die today if I can help it.”

“Good.” You give him a quick tight hug.

“Be careful.”

“You too. I’ll see you in the forests.”

As you start walking away you suddenly think of something. “Tav!” you call. He turns around. “They’re right, death is an adventure! But life’s a bigger one!” That puts a grin on his face.

You and your group set off for the Cult, apprehensive but hopeful all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know it looks bad but...no...no I can't sugar coat it, it is bad
> 
> (for those of you reading this as it's updating: figured I'd give you a two-in-one combo pack today, the last part of the arc will go up tomorrow. yes this is exactly the point in the arc where waiting for the update will be painful it's intentional my friends)


	25. Battalion Overrun - Showdown (Vriska's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad Things happen. Your selection of trigger warnings today include blood, violence, gore, death/murder, and attempted suicide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that as the story progresses you'll run into these types of triggers more often, bc this is a rebellion against the government people not freeze tag on the playground
> 
> Y'know, just a heads up

You’re twenty minutes behind schedule.

Sometimes twenty minutes means nothing, like going to bed twenty minutes later than you had planned to, or spending an extra twenty minutes on creating an attack plan to make sure it’s perfect.

Sometimes twenty minutes means a lot, like being twenty minutes late to the movies and missing important backstory, or being twenty minutes late to your meeting with a backstreet dealer and the asshole runs off with the gunpowder you really needed.

This is one of those times when twenty minutes means everything, like you were supposed to leave the base twenty minutes ago but you didn’t, and there’s a ship flying overhead that isn’t yours.

The emergency plan for this emergency evacuation plan was if you didn’t get out in time, everyone would hide in the bunker and tunnel your way to a safer place before getting back on track for the forests. The plan doesn’t go so well. It wasn’t the soldiers’ fault; they all did exactly as instructed. The problem was the ships (by now there’s at least four of them) decided to drop bombs to flush everyone out. The barracks filled with smoke and made breathing impossible, forcing everyone into the valley (five of them, unable to find their way out, were lost to suffocation, bumping your troops down to seventy-nine). Another twelve scrambled out of the valley and tried to make a run for it (you’re down to sixty-seven).

Tavros commands everyone to switch to the offense, as defense isn’t possible. His words of encouragement – “We have a better chance of making it out of here if we don’t wait for them to kill us!” – blur with your words of reminder – “You swore to lay down your lives for each other, so do it and take out as many of those bastards as you can!” From there, you all scatter for weapons.

The world becomes ablaze with exploding Empire ships on your left (you count three and another four take their place), Battalion cannons going off on your right, heavy dark smoke all around you. The fields turn red from flames and rainbow from blood. Artillery takes down a ship, whose captain aims the falling wreckage straight for a crowd (fifty-two). Empire soldiers hit the ground and the scuffle focus is torn between the sky and the land (thirty-four).

You personally take out a good chunk of the Empire’s numbers, saving Battalion soldiers when you can and screaming out expletives when you see another go down (thirty-one, thirty, twenty-nine). One of your favorite soldiers, a chartreuseblood who was always a fast learner in hand-to-hand combat, shares his supply of ammo with you as you take out Empire soldiers. Your bullet is a second too late when he runs off with the intent to grab more and someone spots him first (twenty-eight).

Things are going bad (twenty-seven). Things are going very (twenty-six) very (twenty-five) _very_ (twenty-four) bad.

You knew going into this that most of you wouldn’t make it out alive, if anyone made it out at all. But throwing your hands up in defeat isn’t an option, certainly one you aren’t willing to choose. Every member of the Battalion would be hung, no trial necessary (or cost-efficient), if you gave yourselves up.

The exceptions would be you and Tavros (Aradia too, if she was here). You’d be tortured until they got every last scrap of information from you, every attack plan, every connection, everything tying you to the Cult and Op:Ab, and when they were done you’d be put on trial for everyone to see. Found guilty with all of that evidence stacked against you, the empress herself would appear for your public beheading, so that she’d personally know for sure that the fairy-winged mutant boy and his highest ranked subordinates were exterminated. You know that’s how it’d happen, because if that was you in her place, you’d do the same.

So the only option now is to eliminate as much of their forces here as possible, gather together whoever’s left from your group, and head to the forests with Tavros as quickly as you can. You hope the declining amount of Battalion members around you means they’ve started doing just that, rather than the cold hard reality that is the army being brought to its knees. As more explosives fall around you and enemy soldiers head in your direction, you seriously start to wonder if you’ll be joining them.

A sudden spotlight on you tears your attention from the ground to the ship hovering right above you. You pop bullets into everyone descending upon you. Your ammo is running out. A voice rings through the smoky air, projected from the ship: “Vriska Serket! We have you and your fellow radicals surrounded! Give yourself up and you may be spared!” Nobody likely misses the critical word ‘may’ in that demand.

Over the roar of battle around you, you scream back, “YOU FUCKERS AIN’T TAKING ANY OF US ALIVE!” and spray the ship with bullets. Some ricochet off, grazing you and the soldiers still advancing on you. More explosions, more gunfire. The air gets thicker and thicker. Your line of sight, already shit thanks to your 20/40 vision on your right side (and lack of vision on your left), diminishes further; the polluted air burns your lungs, and your body’s attempt to rid itself of it through coughing starts affecting your aim. As much as you want to, you can’t throw your dice to make up for your depleting ammo supply; if you got an unlucky throw you wouldn’t be able to find them again, and even if luck is on your side, in the time it would take to throw them you could be gunned down.

You shoot frantically around you as the space between you and them shrinks. It’s a miracle you’ve managed to keep them at bay as long as you have, but you feel a twinge of triumph as their numbers drop. One of them approaches from the edge of your blind spot and your bullet hits them either in the mouth or the throat, you’re not sure which. Another whacks you in the arm with the butt of their gun; a second later, their blood and brain matter splatters over you. A hand grabs your non-mechanical shoulder from behind and you whirl around to launch a bullet into their pusher, just as they yell, “DON’T!”

Too late you realize that you know that voice, and you scream.

Life is very strange sometimes. Things that happen in movies rarely happen in real life; that’s why you’re supposed to refer to them as two separate things. But sometimes, things happen in real life that make you feel like you’ve suddenly been transported into the middle of a film. This moment in particular reminds you of a rather overhyped movie that you personally never cared for, In Which A Threshecutioner-In-Training Yellowblood Covertly Turns To A Life Of Crime After Her Amberblooded Matesprit Is Left For Dead On A Foreign Planet In The Far Reaches Of The Universe. The Lead Female Played By Troll Ellen Page Secretly Hacks Into The Mainframe Of Her Superior Officers’ Ship (Which We All Know Is Impossible But Will Be Ignoring That Fact At The Moment For The Sake Of The Plot) Over A Number Of Perigees, Refusing To Refill Her Red Quadrant Because She’s Still Deeply In Pity With Her Dead Matesprit And Filling Pails With Her Moirail In Order To Try To Keep The Imperial Drones Satisfied. While Out On A Reconnaissance Mission The Yellowblood Is Ambushed By An Unknown Attacker And She Culls Them, Only To Realize That Her Attacker Is Her Amberblooded Matesprit Who Somehow Survived All This Time Only To Be Ironically Culled By The One Troll Who Wanted To See Her Again. Featuring Seven Explosions, Fifty-Six Instances Of Illegal Acts That Are Cull-Worthy, One Cull Of A Plot-Significant Character, Seventeen Culls Of Non Plot-Significant Characters, One Case Of Matesprit Infidelity, Two Musical Numbers That Reveal The Lead Female’s Inner Thoughts, And A Special Appearance By Troll John Cusack As The Yellowblood’s Moirail’s Kismesis.

Down on your knees at his level, you fist your hands in his vest and shake him violently, screaming at him to say something, anything, instead of staring blindly ahead as blood gushes out of his chest. His silence prompts you to shake him harder and scream louder. Slowly, painfully slowly, he reaches his right hand up to cup your cheek. You lean into the touch and sob angrily.

“Fuck don’t do this I’m sorry, I’m sorry oh fuck I’m so sorry please, I’m sorry,” you wail.

Your heart just about bursts when he manages to sadly smile at you. “I know.” He opens his mouth and you think he’s going to say something more, but all that comes out is more blood. His wings flutter slightly behind him one last time, and he slumps forward against you, dead weight.

Two hands pull you forcefully back and you screech, unable to hold onto him or find your footing. You force yourself forward roughly and make a grab for your gun. Your hand gets a grip on it just as you’re pulled back again.

You put the barrel to your head and pull the trigger.

 _Click_.

_Click. Click. Click._

Not one bullet is left for you.

Suddenly, pain shoots through the back of your neck and you feel like you’re on fire. Your body convulses and you can’t move, can’t attack the soldiers coming into sight, can’t defend yourself. You scream until the world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wraps up the Battalion Overrun arc. As things continue to heat up arcs are going to be replacing the usual drabble setup (this isn't really a collection of drabbles anymore whoops)
> 
> The next arc, which is so far unwritten, will span five chapters or more depending on my own time management/wordiness so I'll see you guys back here when the first one goes up
> 
> (PS: as I'm writing these I realize that there's a lot of commentary I'm doing on the situation in my head that doesn't make it into the actual chapters, bc although they're relevant there's just no place for them. when I stop writing for this and post the final copy of the timeline, I think I'll also have a thing of exposition on my thinking behind all the events that went down, conveniently at the end of the fic so you'll be able to ignore it if you so choose)


	26. The Witness (?'s POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lone survivor lives to remember. No triggers

You know what you saw, but you still can’t comprehend how it was possible. There’s always been rumors floating around that she might not be very trustworthy (look at how he cold he acted towards her when she first arrived). They were just rumors. You never thought it was anything serious, that perhaps they had a bad history but that they moved passed it.

The fact that it would escalate into this is unbelievable.

You were running for the barracks to see if you could find anything of use when it happened. Through thick gray smoke you saw it, and you ran. You ran as fast and as far as you could go until your legs gave out and your lungs were fit to burst, and then you ran more. It’s a miracle that you made it out of the area without a bullet through your pan.

It’s weighing on your conscience that you abandoned your soldiers when they needed you most. But someone has to tell Aradia.

Someone has to live to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This 'chapter' was more so I can update you guys on the situation at hand sorry if I got your hopes up too high
> 
> College is starting up tomorrow for me so whoops there's gonna be more lag time in between updates. The Battalion Overrun arc is actually a great place to pause at, because the next arc coming up will be the longest one yet so I need time to put it together. I'm foreseeing a few traditional drabbles being put up between now and the start of the next arc, so expect those during the next few weeks
> 
> No idea what my free time will look like what with school and possibly getting a job on top of that, but I'm hoping to at least start the arc by my birthday (the 22nd of this month) and have it done sometime by the start of December. So there's your loose timeline for right now
> 
> Stick around friends shit's gonna continue hitting the fan


	27. Team Charge and Team Scourge's Reunion (Terezi's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two former teams reunite. No triggers

“We’ll give you guys some time to uh…reacquaint yourselves,” Karkat says, closing the door behind him. You faintly hear him ask somebody in the other room if putting the four of you together unsupervised is such a good idea. A part of you is asking the same question.

You’ve been at the Cult for a brief time, so hearing that Karkat wasn’t thrilled about collaborating with the Battalion for a long time before you got to Alternia was a bit surprising. He seems almost excited at the prospect sometimes. But Kanaya has told you of the numerous times he’s nearly had a breakdown more than once over the very thought of joining forces with them.

In any case, the alliance between the two groups is a reality now, and while the members of both are still getting through introductions, the leaders are being reunited for the first time in sweeps. Someone suggested that the four of you reunite as a unit, as that’s how you always interacted with each other, and so now you stand in a meeting room with your old rivals of Team Charge and your former sister.

This technically isn’t your first reunion with Tavros and Aradia since conscription; you spent some time with them previously, just after your escape from the legislacerators’ ship. They tended to the wounds you’d acquired doing so, fed you, clothed you, and gave you a place to rest until you were ready to make the final trek to the Cult.

Vriska, on the other hand, you haven’t seen in sweeps. You’re worried about that.

She’s the first to say something. “So are we just gonna stand around and stare at each other or is anybody gonna say hi? We have shit to do, people.”

“Sounds like you haven’t changed much,” you comment.

“I don’t fix what isn’t broken. But for the record, I think all of us have changed at least a little bit. I mean, look at Nitram over here.” She gestures with a hand. “Fucker’s got wings now.”

“I think she meant that in a more metaphorical sense,” says Aradia, turning to you and grinning. “How’s it going? Are they feeding you as well as we did?”

You grin back. “Their canned beans are of the highest quality, but it’s nothing in comparison to the Battalion’s renowned spoiled musclebeast preserves.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet! We have leftovers from that very jar, I’ll make sure to bring it the next time I’m here.” She winks and you laugh because you know she’s kidding.

“So Pyrope, I heard you were over with the legislacerators before you joined the cause. How’d that go for you?” Vriska leans against the wall, arms folded.

You’re a little irritated that you have to talk about work, because it’s probably one of your least favorite subjects at the moment. “Bland, exhausting, a crumbling mess of my entire moral code. You know, typical adult stuff.”

“Sounds about right. Pail anybody up there?”

“Vriska,” Tavros says sternly; Aradia shoots her a look.

She puts her hands up defensively. “Hey, it’s just a question! You’re honestly telling me that’s not a part of adult life that we can discuss?”

“We have literally not spoken for sweeps and you’re already questioning my sex life?” You’re only able to keep a straight face for a few moments before you start cackling at the absurdity of the situation. “You definitely haven’t changed at all.”

Maybe this reunion won’t be as weird after all.

(You’re wrong; it’s very much weird. Everyone tiptoes around the debacle that scarred all of you but it’s so difficult. Innocent questions connect back to it in a roundabout way. You still feel weird talking to Vriska after all this time. But eventually the four of you are about as comfortable together as you’re going to get at this point in time and head out to regroup with the others. This alliance ceremony isn’t going to plan itself.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I'd get around to this yeah I got around to it yet still left it vague as hell and up for interpretation. 
> 
> Or maybe I'm just lazy. Your choice.


	28. Relationship - Karkat and Nepeta and Kanaya and Sollux (Kanaya's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some relationship dynamics are clarified. Drug use, other than that no triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place sometime after the Cult and Battalion's alliance and before the Mairah and Bee arc

“What exactly happened between you two?” you ask him as Nepeta leaves the room. He looks up at you slightly, clearly confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Something is different in your dynamic but I cannot quite put my finger on it.”

“My ‘dynamic’ with everybody has changed. We all grew up. We’re rarely out of survival mode. Of course we’re all gonna act differently around each other.” He walks around the room, picking up odds and ends and putting them in their proper places. The action is very… _you_ in nature.

“Yes, but that seems to be especially true for you and Nepeta’s relationship.” You start mimicking his actions and tidy up the area. “Not to say you were on negative terms before, but there is something certainly…” you struggle to find the right word, and settle on, “ _incongruent_ in your friendship from the way you acted around each other before.”

He shrugs his shoulders but doesn’t offer any insight.

“At first I thought perhaps it was just that the sheer amount of time spent together had improved your friendship, but the same could be said for Sollux, and that went in a, um, different direction.”

You realize your mistake and divert your eyes when he glances at you and you quickly offer an apology. He walks over and pecks your cheek briefly. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles, eyes sad as he walks past to straighten up a bookcase behind you.

“You know I don’t hold it against you,” you gently remind him, frowning. Karkat’s brief pale fling with Sollux was something the both of you had to take some time to move past. You don’t think badly of him for his infidelity; if he had been in any other situation, you probably would at least a bit, but knowing the pressure on him at the time makes you even grateful to Sollux for taking care of him when you couldn’t. Not to say that privately there wasn’t a feeling of betrayal, but understanding why he did what he did made it more forgivable. Karkat still feels incredible guilty for it, though, and has offered you the chance to break it off with him multiple times, and every time you wave him off and remind him you’re in this for the long run, until death do you part. Besides, if you were looking for retribution, the self-hatred he’s expressed over the situation is punishment enough tenfold.

“…it’s likely because of the Signless’s memories,” he relents. “Nepeta’s witnessed so many of my episodes that it’s probably messed up something between us. No, maybe messed up isn’t the right term. Just…changed something.”

“Because of the Disciple?”

“Yeah. It’s the shittiest coincidence that our ancestors were together and she just happened to have a thing for me when we were younger. I’m pretty sure she’s moved past it, but it must be such a punch in the gut every time I’m out of it and being all domestic with her.” He rubs his temples with the hand not holding a stack of books. “These flashback vision things are such a pain in the ass.”

“If it’s any comfort, I doubt she thinks terrible of you for it,” you offer.

“She’s told me as much but I’m not really sold on it. Probably just being nice for my sake. In any case, it doesn’t fix the problem.”

\--

“Of course I don’t blame him! Is he being self-deprecating about _that_ of all things?”

You fiddle with the bag she’s given you.  “You know how he is. If he unintentionally hurts anyone he won’t rest until he feels miserable about it.”

Nepeta puffs out her cheeks in frustration, which is both the silliest and most endearing thing she does subconsciously. “He’s so ridiculous sometimes. I know he can’t control what he does during his episodes so of course I don’t blame him for what he says.” She puts down her blunt and takes the bag back from you, unhooking the latch and handing it back along with some sort of paper.

Carefully, you reenact the instructions she gave you and begin compacting the contents of the bag into the paper. “Does it bother you at all? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“It was more difficult in the beginning. By the time conscription rolled around I had managed to get over him pity-wise, but it was still strange how comfortable he suddenly became around me. The Signless and the Disciple’s relationship was so complex, yet so simple at the same time. They were incredibly open with one another. So whenever he channeled Signless, that openness transferred over. It was just…strange.” She takes a drag and blows off to the side. “I wasn’t terribly uncomfortable, but some of the paler gestures just made me miss Equius more. Made him miss you more, when he came back to himself.”

You seal off your blunt and hold it up for Nepeta to examine, and she praises you on how meticulous you were in rolling it perfectly symmetrical. She lights the end of it and coaxes you through as you take the first drag. Your lungs fill with the foreign substance and you can’t fight back the coughing fit that starts. Nepeta gently pats your back until you’re breathing properly again.

“It takes a few drags to get the hang of it,” she tells you, taking one herself. “It doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. The Karkat thing, I mean. You adjust. You learn the tricks to helping him get back to his old self. We talk sometimes about it when it gets especially rough. It’s touching that he cares enough to wonder how all of this is affecting me, but I’d much rather him worry about himself for a change.”

“You and me both,” you say, tentatively taking another drag. The ensuing coughing fit isn’t as violent as the first one.

“So,” she says, leaning back in her seat with a mischievous grin on her face. “Now that you’ve learned the inner workings of our setup, how about I pick at your pan a bit?”

You shrug. “I suppose it’s only fair. What would you like to know?”

“What’s your whole deal with Sollux?”

“My ‘whole deal’?” you question.

“Oh purrlease,” she says, “if anybody’s been acting weird around each other, it’s you two.”

You shrug again. “I wasn’t aware that we were acting differently than we usually do.”

“Yeah, okay. Beclaws the looks you give each other _aren’t_ suspicious as fuck.”

“Are you implying something, Miss Leijon?” She quirks an eyebrow but says nothing. “We’re not sharing a quadrant if that’s what you’re implying.”

“No of course you’re not, but I’m still wondering what’s _up_ with you guys.”

A third shrug. “We spend a lot of time together due to our singing personas. I suppose we’ve just grown close because of it. We were friendly as wigglers so it’s not entirely surprising.”

She sighs and blows out a smoke ring. “I have to outright ask it, don’t I. Would you tap that?”

“Nepeta-”

“I admitted I had a thing for Karkat, come on man.”

“It wasn’t exactly a secret,” you point out.

“True, but it’s not exactly a secret that you two look like you’re a second away from jumping on each other.”

You give her a look and she just smirks. “I will admit that, before Karkat and I even began to parse the idea of a relationship, mind you, Sollux and I had a brief…history, of a pale nature.”

“A ‘history’, hmm?” She looks expectantly at you. You blow smoke and offer nothing, but her olive eyes bore holes into you and you finally cave.

“It was nothing, really. I verbally pacified him whenever he came venting of excessive self-deprecation. He’d offer insight on battling my occasional bout of bloodlust. Things faltered, I started my fiasco with Vriska, and his relationship evolved with Terezi. That’s about all there was to it.” Before she can get the words out you clarify, “We’re not cheating on our palemates with each other.”

“I know you wouldn’t. I was just gonna say, your interactions seem more red than pink to me.”

“…I pity him in the nonromantic sense, the way I pity anyone going through hardship the way we are.” You take another drag. “He’s a useful ally and a kind companion when he wants to be, but we’re not each other’s type, and we’re both fine with that. If it comes off otherwise, maybe it’s because we have to appear so in the public eye during performances.”

“That makes sense,” she says, nodding to herself.

You hesitate a moment, giving yourself the chance to change your mind, then ultimately beckon her closer with a hand. In a smoke-stained breath you whisper in her ear, “Although he does have a nice butt. Bony as hell, but nice.” You pull back quickly. “But no, I genuinely do not wish to tap that.”

She grins wickedly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya and Nepeta finally had that catnip party mentioned way back in the first drabble. Sheesh that was a lot of drabbles ago. I've graduated high school since that drabble was written. Look how far we've come, kids. Also fun fact I'm totally into the headcanon that Kanaya's into bony butts, including the bony butt of another individual she pale dated in the past, wink
> 
> The start of the next arc is still scheduled to begin on Monday, although probably not until later at night because I totally snagged that job I mentioned and work is now a thing that I do. I don't have a completely concrete timeline on updates from that first arc installment on, but it'll likely be one a week, maaaaybe two if I have the time, more likely one


	29. Cult Overrun - Initial Discovery (Nepeta's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tale you're all too familiar with begins anew. No triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the Cult Overrun arc begins. This arc is by far the longest to date, although its layout is reminiscent of the Battalion Overrun arc (at least, it starts out that way)

The hideout’s server has been experiencing issues for ages and Sollux is no closer to solving the problem than he was when it first started. From what you can see, it’s starting to get to him; he’s been going for longer spans of time without sleep, trying to make up for the time he’s dedicating to trying to repair it rather than working exclusively with his division. It worries everyone; he and Kanaya, while recovering wonderfully from their ordeal, are still a bit banged up and exerting themselves doesn’t help the situation. Terezi reels him in when he gets too erratic and risks frying the whole set up out of frustration.

“What the fuck is wrong with thith thing?!?”

“Sol relax, take it easy-”

“There’th nothing wrong with it! I’ve run every thcan I have at my dithpothal, I’ve phythically gone into the mainframe mythelf, there’th nothing out of plathe!!! So why the FUCK ith it not working?!”

It’s been over a week since Karkat noticed the server was down and you’ve all been a bit frustrated since it started acting up. You’ve had to switch to paper copies of plans and schematics, and while you already use those, it’s difficult to make multiple copies of them to distribute around when they’re not digital. Production has gone down considerably because of this and it’s a pain.

You’re currently on a short break. You were discussing with Karkat how to speed up production during server down times (just in case this happens again) but he needed to use the load gaper. So you’re by yourself, fiddling with your husktop even though you know Trollian won’t connect to anyone. Personally, the most frustrating thing about the server being down is that if Equius is attempting to contact you, there’s no way he can get through. The fact that you also can’t get in touch with the Battalion is also annoying; Sollux hasn’t heard from Aradia in a while, and you can’t relay information to them for weapons and aircrafts (nor can they to the Cult).

With the mouse you drag blue select boxes around on your desktop. It’s occurred to you that blue, while a pleasant color, is pretty commonplace for computer select boxes. When everything with the server blows over and he has a chance to calm down, you think you’ll ask Sollux if there’s a way to change the color. A nice olive tone would fit better. Maybe gradients are possible? The combinations could be endless…

A _ping_ startles you out of your reverie. At first you think it’s coming from the husktop in your lap, but after it pings again you realize it’s coming from Karkat’s. You slide yours to the side and pull his over. Trollian is flashing.

Huh?

UNKNOWN [??] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

HOLD RIGHT THE FUCK UP.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

ERROR CODE 0248392

ATTEMPTING TO RESCAN

…

…

…

…

…

EROR COD 854867

ATTE

…

…

3RR5555580

RNASNF

…

…

…

53RV3R 5C4N COMPL373. B453D 0N 4 NUMB3R 0F 4LG0R1THM5 7H47 Y0U H4V3 N0 GR45P 0F 4ND N3V3R W1LL, YOUR 53RV3R 4ND 73CHN1C4L D3V1C3(5) H4V3 B33N D373RM1N3D 70 B3 **3RRRR57854583836** 0F 4NY P0551BL3 **BUG5, 7R4CK1NG PR0GR4M5, V1RU535** , 0R 4NY7H1NG 3L53 7H47 W0ULD G3T Y0UR 455 53N7 P4CK1NG. Y0U W1LL C0N71NU3 70 B3 M0N170R3D F0R 5UCH BULL5H17 DUR1NG Y0UR C0MMUN1C4710N

IF Y0U 4773MP7 70 RUN 4NY 0F 7HE PR3VI0U5LY M3N7ION3D BULL5HI7 **W3 W1LL F1ND Y0U**.

**C0NN3C7ION 5TR3NG7H:** 3RRRR6259864535

**53RV3R N4M3:** 3RRRR4R6876853188

**P457 1N73R4C710N5:** 3RRRR54545158

**_carcinoGeneticist_ ** _, D0 Y0U 4CCEP7 7H3 C0MMUN1C4710N?_

First rule regarding the security scan: if the scan doesn’t outright say the person on the other end is bug-free, you don’t accept the communication.

Besides, the thing looks absolutely dreadful.

>no

L00K5 L1K3 Y0U’R3 0U7 0F LUCK, CHUMP.

D1SC0NN3C71NG

…

…

**_carcinoGeneticist,_ ** _D0 Y0U 4CC3P7 7H3 C0MMUN1C4710N?_

You try again.

>NO

L00K5 L1K3 Y

3R5787542

5852

…

…

_C0NN3C7ION H45 B33N 4PPR0V3D._

??: making me work for it huh brother of mine

??: A NIFTY LITTLE SETUP YOU’VE GOT GOIN HERE

??: had to get a motherfucker up in here who knew how all that technobabble shit works

??: RIGHTEOUS GODS KNOW I DON’T GOT THE MIND FOR IT

??: well

??: I DON’T GOT THE MIND FOR A LOT OF THINGS LATELY

CG: :33 < who are you?

??: well i’ll be

??: IS THAT MY FAVORITE MEOWBEAST THAT’S ALL UP AND MOTHERFUCKIN TYPIN

??: don’t know any other bitches who throw motherfuckin faces at the start of their lines

CG: :33 < wait

CG: :33 < gamz33?

??: YOU GOT IT SISTER

??: took you all up and long enough

??: THOUGHT I WAS GONNA HAVE TO SPELL THAT SHIT OUT FOR YOU

??: honk

CG: :33 < how did you fritz out our server so bad?

CG: :33 < are you the reason it’s not working?

??: DID I NOT SAY OUTRIGHT I DON’T GOT THE MIND TO BE FUCKIN WITH NO TECHNOBABBLE SHIT

??: you weren’t exactly the smartest of the hatchlings

CG: :33 < what do you want gamz33

??: TO NOT BE FUCKIN TALKIN TO YOU THAT’S WHAT

??: where’s karbro at

??: CARCINOGENETICIST AIN’T ANYWHERE NEAR BEIN ABOUT MEOWBEASTS SO I DON’T SEE WHY I’M GETTING RESPONSES FROM YOU

CG: :33 < he’s not here right now

??: yeah no shit

??: TELL YOU WHAT

??: i’ll have you relay a little message for me to him

??: THINK YOU CAN PLAY SECRETARY LIKE ALL THE OTHER OLIVEBLOODED MOTHERFUCKERS WHO COULDN’T GET INTO THE THRESHECUTIONER RANKINGS?

CG: :33 < just give me the message already

??: tell karkat

??: AND ALL THE REST OF YOU LITTLE FUCKS TRYIN TO MESS WITH WHAT’S BEEN RIGHT AND WELL FOR MILLENNIA

??: that missy empress knows all up and where you guys are

??: THEY’RE COMIN FOR YOU

??: to deliver swift justice upon all those who have dared to abandon the law

??: TERECITA WOULD GET A MOTHERFUCKIN KICK OUTTA THAT ONE

??: rest in pieces bitch gotta be long dead by now

CG: :33 < how do they know where we are?!

??: SOME LITTLE CHIRPBEAST TIPPED THEM OFF

CG: :33 < you?

??: i honk chica i don’t know shit about tweeting

??: BUT SOMEBODY DOES

??: couldn’t tell you who and even if i could

??: I’M NOT A FUCKIN NEWS ANCHOR

CG: :33 < I don’t see why you’d warn us when you seem just as comfortable with letting us fall

??: oh that’s right simple, keep you ocular globes open real wide for this one

??: AS MUCH AS YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ARE MAKING IT HELL FOR ALL OF US TRYIN TO DO THIS EMPIRE RIGHT

??: shit’s entertaining

??: FIGURE IF I GIVE YOU FUCKS A HEAD START IT’LL DRAW THIS WHOLE THING OUT LONGER

??: hearing the cull counts of the day is a sweet symphony

??: AND THE BLOOD THAT STAINS THE LAND IS A BEAUTIFUL MURAL I CAN ONLY IMAGINE

??: another thing is uh

??: SECOND THAT KARBRO’S CAPTURED HE’S MOTHERFUCKIN DEAD

??: would kinda rather have that not happen you feel

CG: :33 < so you do realize you’re supporting a government that’s trying to eradicate him

??: TOMATO TOMATO

??: (fuck pronounce those two differently)

??: MIXING UP SUPPORT FOR BOTH ENDS SERVES MY INTERESTS MORE THAN JUST ONE

??: aight so you got my message

CG: :33 < yeah I got it, and now you get this one

CG: :33 < come anywhere near him or any of us and I swear I will shred every inch of skin off your body while I listen to you scream for mercy that you’ll never get

??: DAMN

??: big words from a little bitch

??: BUT IN ALL HONESTY, NEPTITS?

??: that’s hot

CG: :33 < fuck you

??: GLAD YOU STILL GOT THAT BLACK SPARK IN YOU

CG: :33 < oh and just so you know, terezi’s still alive

??: :0(

??: well ain’t that motherfuckin disappointing

??: WE WERE ALL UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT SHE BIT IT

??: suppose that means she’s up and joined you hmm

CG: :33 < yeah

??: AND LEMME GUESS, SHE AND KARBRO’S ROCKIN THE RED AGAIN

??: nah don’t answer that

??: WE ALL KNOW THEY ARE

You sense another presence approaching. “Hey, I’m back. Sorry, I really had to shi- what are you doing?” You try to not look like a deerbeast in the headlights; you get out, “Gamzee,” and he rushes over to you.

“What?! How the fuck are you in contact with him, the server is still complete shit!” He reads quickly through the chatlog and the gray leaves his face all at once. “Fuck,” he says quietly.

Trollian pings again.

??: so get out of there

??: WHILE YOU STILL CAN

CG: GAMZEE?

??: either you’re tryin to fuck with me or karbro’s finally made an appearance

CG: IT’S ME YOU SACK OF SHIT.

CG: WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK ARE YOU DOING? YOU HAVEN’T SPOKEN ONE WORD TO ANY OF US IN SIGNLESS KNOWS HOW LONG AND SUDDENLY YOU APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE AND GET THROUGH OUR *CRASHED* SERVER?

CG: WHERE EVEN ARE YOU I’M SO CONFUSED.

CG: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT SHE KNOWS WHERE WE ARE?

??: HONK

CG: WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

CG: AND WHY ARE YOU TYPING SO STRANGELY?

??: man it is such a delight to be communicatin with my karbro again

??: DOESN’T LOOK LIKE YOU’VE CHANGED ONE MOTHERFUCKIN BIT

??: except for suddenly becoming public enemy numero uno but that’s a fact we can just gloss over

CG: ANSWER ME DAMN IT.

??: THERE’S SOME SHIT THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW BRO

??: so i’ll keep that info all to my motherfuckin self

??: BUT HEY

??: now that i’ve got you

??: WHAT’S SAY YOU DROP OUT OF THAT LITTLE CULT CLUB YOU’RE TRYIN TO RUN

??: i think you’d do a lot better in mine

CG: IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE ME ANY INFORMATION I’M CUTTING YOU OFF.

??: YOU DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN

??: i can respect that

??: THE EMPIRE UP AND SLAUGHTERED THAT LITTLE SIDE PROJECT YOU HAD GOIN ON

??: shit was tinier than expected they deployed for an army not the playdate they had to take care of

??: BUT YEAH THEY’RE GONE

??: so think of that as incentive to abandon whatever notion up in your pan that says you’ll succeed

??: BECAUSE IF THE FUCKER WITH THE IRONS COULDN’T DO IT EONS AGO

??: what hope do you have

CG: WE’RE DONE HERE.

??: GOOD LUCK

??: you’re gonna need it

??: OH, AND KARBRO

CG: WHAT.

??: <>

CG: UH.

??: ;0)

UNKNOWN [??] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

He leans back and runs a hand through his hair, eyes fixated on the husktop screen.

You whisper, “What are we going to do?”

He shakes his head, shock still evident on his face.

“What did he mean, side project?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea.”

“You don’t think…he wasn’t talking about-”

“Little Disciple!” A Cult member runs in, panting, trying to catch their breath. “Oh…Messiah…you’re here too…good…” He’s trying to bow to the two of you but it’s apparent he’s just propping himself up with his hands on his thighs.

“What is it?” you ask him. “We’re kinda in the middle of something.”

“It’s…it’s Miss Megido…and Battalion troops…she says…they need help…”

“Help?” Karkat asks. “Why, what’s wrong?” He’s already standing and offering you a hand.

“Their army…was overrun…by the Empire…”

Without a word the two of you rush out of the room for the main corridor; you thank the cultist as you go.

Your fear, that the ‘side project’ Gamzee spoke of is the Battalion, has been confirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh boy you're in for it


	30. Cult Overrun - Fate of the Battalion (Nepeta's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fear is confirmed again. No triggers

Aradia and her band of twenty are a wreck. You spend more time than you’d all care for tending to them rather than speaking: food rations are distributed for an early lunch (the cultists are more than happy to share with them) and medics are brought to the commons area to care for those who need bandages for cuts and splints for twisted ankles.

Aradia finishes her food quickly while she gets spurs pulled out of her braids, waving off medical attention for her wounds (“It’s just a scratch, go see Cichol he has a bump on his forehead that I couldn’t diagnose.”) When she’s done she tells her soldiers to stay put, continue eating and relax, while she discusses their next move with you. Karkat ushers her into the cobweb of rooms that serves as your conference area. The six of you – Karkat, Terezi, Kanaya, Sollux, her, and yourself – all gather around in the largest room, the one you store most of the Disciple’s writings in. As you all settle yourselves in the room you see Aradia pass a jar of something to Terezi, who sniffs it questioningly before realization dawns on her face. She gives Aradia a petrified look, who winks at her in response.

“Alright,” Karkat says, addressing Aradia. “Start from the beginning. What’s going on?”

 She takes a swig from her water bottle to steady herself, swallows, and begins. “A little over a week ago we received communication from Op:Ab. Eridan told us that the Empire had found the coordinates for our base. Didn’t know how, just that they were heading for us. So we made plans and broke off into groups, and abandoned the base for the forests up north of us.” She pauses a moment. “Eridan also said they know where you guys are, too.”

The room becomes tense with this information. Although you and Karkat already know, it’s still hard to hear.

“He’s been trying to get in touch with you guys but for some reason he can’t. So I came here with my group to warn you. You need to get out of here. It’s not safe to just lie and wait; they could be here at any moment.”

“How much time do we have?” Kanaya asks. “Approximately.”

“Eridan told us three days for ourselves. I left on the third day, and it’s been…five days since then, so you guys probably have three or four before they find you.”

“Four days? Is clearing the hideout even possible in that amount of time?” asks Terezi.

“Unlethh we thtarted immediately we couldn’t get out of here in five.” Sollux starts listing things off on his fingers. “We need to gather rationth. Pack weaponry. Hide important documentth. There’th jutht too much.”

“It’s actually possible to do in three days,” Aradia pipes up. “Granted, we didn’t have a lot of down time, and you guys have more people to move. But we managed to move out three hundred soldiers and 75% of our equipment in two and a half days. The other eighty-some and the remaining 25% shipped out with Tavros and Vriska, after I left.”

Gamzee’s words nag in the back of your pan. _Shit was tinier than expected; they deployed for an army, not the playdate they had to take care of._ If everyone had already abandoned the base, who did they wipe out? “So everyone’s in the forests?” you ask.

She nods. “That last group will have only just gotten there by now, but everybody else should be there. I actually need to head in that direction myself. I’m ahead of schedule by a few days but it’s still another two weeks we need to travel.”

“Two weekth? AA, you nearly killed yourselveth getting here. At leath take a day to recover.”

“I can’t. I feel bad that I can’t offer them more recovery time than what they’re getting right now, but we need to regroup with the others.”

“TV can handle them one extra day without you. The Battalion theemth pretty put together, they thhouldn’t give him too much of a problem.”

“He’s right. Running off this quickly will do more harm than good for you.” Karkat adds, “At least stay here overday; you can head out when the sun sets.”

You can tell she’s a bit reluctant, but she thinks about it and eventually agrees. “Thanks so much for helping us, by the way.” Karkat waves her off. “No really. Your supplies probably aren’t in any better shape than ours. It’s really nice of you to share them with us.”

“Are you suggesting I can’t run my end of the rebellion better than Nitram?” he jokes. “I know you have a quadrant bias but I’ll have you know my group has a 0% approval rating from the Empire.”

“Yeah, we have public enemy number one over here, Miss Third Place,” quips Terezi, grin wide.

Aradia giggles. “True, but we have the likes of Vriska Serket, and meanwhile you have…” she gestures to Sollux.

“Fuck you AA,” he whines and pushes her arm.

“Besides, the Battalion-” A knock at the door interrupts her. You go to answer it.

On the other side stand a cultist and a very straggly-looking girl. The cultist bows slightly and says “A Battalion soldier is looking to speak to Aradia. She says it’s important.”

“Did you see the medics?” you ask the girl. A quick glance over and you spot gashes in her arms and torn-up knees. “You look untreated. Pallas, take her to the commons area, tell a medic that they missed someone.”

“No, you don’t understand,” the girl says, shaking her head violently. “I need to talk to her _now_.”

“What’s going on, Nepeta?” Karkat asks inside the room.

“It’s a soldier, she wants to talk to Aradia but she-”

“Is she in there?” the girl interrupts. “Aradia? Aradia, it’s Menvra! Tell them to let me in!”

You look into the room at Aradia for confirmation. “It’s okay,” she says, “I know who she is.” You nod and move aside, ushering the girl in. She has a prominent limp in her right leg as she hobbles in. “Menvra, you’re in Vriska’s group. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in the forests.”

The girl shakes her head again. “They’re gone. All of them, they’re gone.”

“Gone? Did you not leave with them?”

“No, they’re _gone_ gone. Like…” The girl swallows. “Aradia, they’re dead.”

Everyone’s eyes go wide. “Menvra,” Aradia says, voice becoming unsteady. “Tell me what happened.”

Faintly hued copper tears fill the girl’s eyes and stream down her face as she speaks. “We didn’t get out in time. They found us. W-we tried fighting back but there was just…just so many…so much blood…they _slaughtered_ us. I had to get away, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I should have stayed longer b-but somebody needed to tell you.”

Your stomach plummets. The Empire got to them after all.

Aradia has her hand on the wall to keep herself up; she looks like her knees will give out any moment. “All of them?” she asks.

“There were a f-few still up when I left but by now they’re gone too.”

You wish somebody would ask the question that you know you’re all thinking, to not put it on her to ask it, but before you can get the words out Aradia whispers, “…Tavros?”

The girl struggles to not sob at the question but fails miserably. Just barely coherent, she chokes out, “Vriska killed him.”

Aradia stares, wide-eyed, not believing. “What.”

Menvra hugs herself and outright bawls. “She shot him. I s-saw her do it.”

A beat.

Sollux tries to hold Aradia up as she slumps to the floor in shock, expression blank. Everyone else has varying degrees of pain on their faces. Karkat faces the wall and pounds it with his fist, yelling out expletives through his tears. You try your best not to cry.

Tavros Nitram is gone. _Gone_ gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops okay so I worked like 50 hours this week instead of the 25 I was originally assigned so I had like no free time to write this week. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to push updates to every OTHER week, which I really don't wanna have to do, but if I get another 40+ hour work week I'm not gonna have time to do school work AND this, so every other week updates will just be better for all of us (I get a chance to actually write, you guys get chapters that have some length to them and aren't shitty, that sort of thing)
> 
> This'll likely push the end of the Cult Overrun arc to the end of the year (if we're lucky). But don't fret; the gigapause is ending sometime this month so that should tide you guys over until I can crank out more chapters
> 
> Until then, stay tuned  
> 


	31. Cult Overrun - Aradia's Departure (Nepeta's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparation begins, and Aradia sets off. No triggers

Karkat’s unable to convince Aradia to take him up on his offer after she learns of Tavros’s fate. She puts on a brave face to tell her soldiers to rest for an hour longer before they head out, then disappears along with Sollux to his personal quarters. You’re all careful not to interrupt them, and you steer clear of the area for that reason, and also so that you can’t hear her wailing in pain even through locked doors.

You send the messenger off to the medical team to patch her up, but keep her away from her fellow soldiers; Karkat wants to make an official announcement about what’s happening, rather than let hearsay (although it’d be completely true) circulate first. Not one person breathes as he explains the situation, and though some people are sobbing and others look ready to murder, they remain collected enough to follow his orders: begin collecting only what’s absolutely necessary, and report to division leaders for specific instructions. You know he’s in as much pain as the rest of you; the fact that he still manages to keep himself together enough to maintain order is admirable. You’re so proud of the leader he’s become.

When enough people are crowded around you, you specify which of the Cult’s writings and archives need to be preserved and which ones need to be buried or burned. It kills you to need to destroy as much as you order them to, but to have it fall into the Empire’s hands when its forces inevitably raid the place isn’t an option. You covet the Disciple’s personal journal and hide with your personal belongings. It’s the one thing you refuse to incinerate.

People scramble around in preparation for departure, which Karkat predicts to start within 48 hours. You don’t need to tell him that with that time limit, it’s unlikely that very much will be saved to be carried out.

Aradia reemerges looking like she’s aged a millennium, but without any signs of the crying you know she indulged herself in. She confronts her group again in the commons area while you’re removing books from the shelves scattered around the room.

“I’m sure Menvra, or Karkat, or both, have already told you what happened. Tavros is…he’s gone. But we can’t let that break us down. I want better for us. He’d want better for us. We need to regroup with the rest of the army in the forests so we can figure out our next move. I know this is a lot to throw on you guys when we only just got here, but this isn’t the time to sit by and do nothing. We can sleep and grieve when the time calls for it.” She keeps her voice steady but it slips into a monotone, as if she’s spent the past hour rehearsing her lines. All of her soldiers nod, some flashing her smiles, and you see her struggle to show them one in return.

When she and her group are ready to leave again, Karkat gives her whatever rations the Cult can spare (it’s measly but she accepts it heartily). In return she offers to take a small group of Cult members with her, to give him less people to have to organize. You wrap her in a quick hug as your goodbye and whisper encouragement in her ear.

The Alternian sun burns as they disappear into the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already broke the Biweekly Update schedule oop but this is barely an update, it's more like setup for the next two chapters, which boy are they gonna take a while to crank out and perfect (the next chapter, in fact, is the very first thing I ever conceptualized for the AU, but only now does it fit into the plot line)


	32. Cult Overrun - Preparation (Kanaya's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An inability to reach a decision causes a standstill. Implied intentions of suicide, other than that no triggers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer that everyone is stressed out of their minds due to recent events, so if anyone (coughkarkatcough) sounds a little off this is why

“-and if we’re going to move out of here in time, it’th our only option,” Sollux says, sitting on your left. To your right is Terezi.

“But there’s a second option. Yes, remember that one? It’s the one where we _don’t_ do that,” Karkat replies from across the table, Nepeta next to him.

“Honestly,” huffs Terezi. “We have only so many hours to be preparing and we’re wasting them debating what to do.”

“Maybe if you had considered this as a possibility and had made out a plan beforehand, we wouldn’t need to,” Nepeta mumbles.

“Excuse me? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“You’re blind, not deaf.”

“Both of you calm down before there’s bloodshed,” you say through gritted teeth, fingers massaging your temple.

A very simple decision is tripping all of you up, due to it not being as simple as it seems on the surface. No one doubts that smaller groups moving rather than one large one is the best course of action, but you’re torn between leading the groups yourselves and assigning trusted cultists to be leaders.

On the one hand (or in this case, on the one side of the table), distributing yourselves to each lead the groups means that every group is ensured to be led by someone capable. The five of you are highly skilled in your respective areas, and dabble in each other’s; protecting your assigned group would be no hassle. The downfall lies in the lack of communication. With no internet connection, you’ll be completely out of contact with one another until you regroup. Anything could happen in that time frame.

On the other hand/side of the table, such a problem is eliminated by having cultists lead their own groups. They aren’t incompetent; they know how to survive, how to lead, and how to follow instructions. What makes the plan difficult is figuring out who is the most trustworthy of the Cult to lead the others. Everyone is silently questioning one another; after all, it’s a mole that revealed the Battalion (and the Cult)’s locations. And after seeing the results of the Battalion’s leaders splitting up, even for the brief time that they did, it would understandably leave anyone hesitant.

There are five of you, and if this were a democracy the decision would be clear. But Karkat lies on the short end of the debate, and although he doesn’t support the concept of a monarchy his decisions have a heavier weight than any of the four of yours do. The fact that you can’t come to a decision with the invisible timer counting down is putting enormous stress on all of you, on top of the burden already on your shoulders.

It’s both surprising to you and not that you and Karkat are on opposing sides on the matter.

“I trust my followers. They’re good people and they can take care of themselves here,” Karkat is arguing. “Splitting us up isn’t necessary.”

Sollux huffs. “But it’th thankth to one of them that we’re in this thituation in the firtht plathe.”

“You don’t know that for sure. It could have been a Battalion soldier.”

“Do we really want to risk everything on a trust bias?” you question. “The fact of the matter is we don’t know who did it, and we don’t have time right now to figure it out. It’s unwise to let our guards down around any of them.”

“ _One_ person can’t keep their mouth shut and suddenly all of the cultists are criminals? This isn’t like our schoolfeeding days. You don’t threaten to cull the whole class just because one wiggler shoved slime up their nasal cavity to get a few laughs.” Nepeta scowls at the memory.

“We’re not calling them all criminals, we’re saying that until we find out who the rat is, we can’t risk letting any of them into any sort of position of power.”

“Let’s say we went along with your plan. There are only five of us. How damn big are we making these groups that each of us can lead one?” Karkat questions.

“They’re gonna have to be kinda big,” Sollux admits, “but it’th better than _your_ plan. You want the five of uth to leave together. You’re painting a big red target on uth.”

“Exactly. A big red target on _us_ , not the Cult. If we go down the rebellion isn’t over, it’ll just be under new management. If the cultists go down and we have no one to rally, what’s the point?”

“Tho that’th it. We all get blown up at onthe, if we’re lucky mind you, and we leave everything up to two girlth on oppothite endth of thpace who aren’t in conthtant contact with each other, leading a rebellion with a mole in its fortheth that’ll take the whole thing down from the inthide.”

“Not to say Aradia and Feferi couldn’t pull it off if the mole was eliminated,” interjects Terezi.

“Oh no, they definitely could, but keep the mole in and they’re toatht.”

Nepeta shakes her head. “We don’t even know if it _is_ a mole! How do we know the empire didn’t just figure out our location by itself? The Empress isn’t stupid; I wouldn’t put it past her if she’s known for a while now.”

“Even if there isn’t, why risk it?” you question. “It’s safer to separate for the time being.”

“And what if something happens?” asks Karkat. “What if we’re at all ends of this wretched desert and need to contact each other? Now what?”

“Honey, we don’t have a choice here.”

“Yes, we do! And don’t honey me.”

“Our plan is smarter, and safer,” Terezi insists. “With the five of us separated, the likelihood the Empire will catch wind of us is pretty small; you’ll have a better chance of getting away. But if we’re all together and they find us, there’s no guarantee we can protect you. The whole group will be picked off, and there won’t be anyone left to bail you out.”

“I don’t _want_ to be protected! I don’t _want_ to be bailed out!” His voice pitches up an octave, rises in decibels. “I didn’t do this so that I could be some untouchable god that watches everyone else die so that I don’t have to! Let me rot at the bottom of a deep, dark pit for all I care, as long no one else has to I couldn’t give less of a shit!”

“But _we_ do! We want change as much as you do but letting you die isn’t a fair trade!”

“You’re right, it’s not, because I’m worth less than the ground the rest of you walk on, let alone worth enough to trade in for a completely different societal system! I didn’t want any of you to join this fucking anarchy party of misery anyway. Did I not tell you, tell _all_ of you,” his eyes sweep over each of you in turn, “that I was going this alone, that I wouldn’t have any of you get wrapped up in this mess?”

“And did you honethtly think any of uth were going to thit on the thidelineth and hope for the betht?”

“Yes! I thought you’d all stop being little shits for two damn seconds and hear me out!”

“I think we all agree that we’d rather be little thhitth than watch you die.”

“WELL I’D RATHER BE A LITTLE ‘THIT’ AND MAKE YOU DO WHAT I FUCKING SAY THAN WATCH ALL OF _YOU_ DIE!” He’s reached screaming levels at this point. “I’M NOT LETTING YOU TURN YOURSELVES INTO MARTYRS FOR MY SAKE. CLEARLY THE MOTIVATION BEHIND _YOUR_ PLAN REVOLVES AROUND ME, SO WE’RE GOING WITH MINE.”

“Uh, about that,” pipes up Nepeta. “We never said our plan didn’t revolve around you, either.” Karkat whips his head to stare at her. “Well come on! If the five of us are traveling together, what are the four of us going to be doing the whole time? Picking flowers? I want to go through with our plan but not if you think we won’t be guarding you the whole time.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me. You’re all pulling a fast one on me. ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PUTTING _ME_ BEFORE THE REST OF THE REBELLION?”

You all basically say “yes” in unison, in varying degrees of guilt.

“YOU KNOW WHAT? I’M DONE. I’M DONE WITH ALL OF THIS. IF EVERY PLAN WE HAVE HINGES ON MY SAFETY, THEN I’M MAKING THE RULING THAT YOU JUST FUCKING KILL ME NOW SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE THAT VARIABLE OUT OF THE EQUATION.”

“Karkat, we’re not going to kill you,” you say.

“AND WHY NOT?”

“Because although we want change as much as you do, we’d prefer you to be able to live to see the changes we bring about.”

“WE’LL NEVER GET TO THAT POINT IF YOU GUYS DON’T SUCK IT UP AND JUST WASTE ME ALREADY!”

“You’re being melodramatic.”

“I’M BEING REALISTIC. IF THE REBELLION IS HINGING ON MY CONTINUED EXISTENCE RIGHT NOW THEN IT’S BETTER TO JUST GET RID OF ME NOW! PROBLEM SOLVED!”

“Would you please stop shouting about your own demise? It’s making everyone uncomfortable.” It’s making _you_ extremely uncomfortable.

“THEN LET’S GET IT OVER WITH AND YOU WON’T HAVE TO HEAR ME AT ALL!”

“Karkat!” Not to mention angry.

“HOW ABOUT YOU, REZI? IF THERE’S A MORE ROMANTIC WAY TO GO THAN AT THE HANDS OF YOUR MATESPRIT I SURE AS FUCK DON’T KNOW IT.”

She glares at him. “Karkat, you’re being ridiculous, and you’re starting to really freak me out.”

“SOLLUX, FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE, DO A BUDDY A SOLID AND-“

“Fuck you, and calm down already, thheethh.”

“NE-“

“Don’t even try,” she interrupts.

“FINE, NONE OF YOU WILL DO IT? I’LL TAKE CARE OF IT MYSELF.”

The four of you have him pinned to the ground before he can make a move to open his sylladex.

Eventually, _eventually_ , after calming him down, after apologies and waves of the hand dismissing them as unnecessary, eventually everyone relents, and a decision is reached, the closest you can come to making a compromise.

Each of you will lead a small group, after the majority of the Cult as left for the designated meet up spot (a forest not unlike the one the Battalion now resides in). However, your group of five will leave in twos to satisfy Karkat’s request for some sort of unity.

There were arguments after that meeting on who would go with whom, as the person to pair with Karkat was the most critical, and you have an uneven number of leaders besides. After a lot of bickering, you all decided that Sollux should leave with Karkat, you will leave with Terezi, and Nepeta will go first on her own.

None of you are entirely thrilled with the decision but time is running out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, this chapter wasn't planned to happen, but I was looking at what I originally had for the next part and it needed more explanation, so this thing is here in its place, oops
> 
> Also it would be in really bad taste to post that part now after GAME OVER for reasons I can't explain. I'll give you guys (and me) another week (or two?) to recover from that mess before we go any farther. So it's actually a good thing that this part needed to happen first. Serendipitous delay here
> 
> See you guys then


End file.
